Make Sure It's Legal

Companies risk making their IT systems vulnerable by using closed source (proprietary) software, i.e. software that comes without source code for their IT staff to inspect and with complicated software licenses.

Install Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)

Open Source Software is provided with a license that gives the end user the right to deploy it freely for private or commercial use. You also have the right to inspect and even modify the underlying source code. You can deploy it on all your systems and copy it freely throughout your organisation.

Genuine Software Advantage

Using Open Source software saves money in many ways.

A single Linux distribution contains most applications you're likely to need and can be installed on many systems. It's the ultimate volume discount. In addition, online update systems provide productivity enhancing upgrades, bug fixes, security enhancements and special add-ons.

Organisations that manage their software effectively standardise employees on common platforms. All users have high-quality, fully functional software and can receive online support if they have questions.

You can get rid of obsolete, expensive legacy systems and manage assets more efficiently, resulting in fewer IT support calls, lower administration costs, and higher user satisfaction.

With Open Source Software you have the assurance that you are protecting your company from the legal fees, financial penalties, and bad press that accompany piracy lawsuits.

Safety in Numbers

When programmers can read, redistribute worldwide, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. This can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.

This evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits. Co-operation between various projects and software integration is easier since they all have the source code.