The Debate: Open Source Versus Commercial Web Software

Every day, epic battles are being waged in organizations the world over. Their outcomes can practically alter the course of human events: Mac vs. PC. Linux vs. Windows. IT vs. Marketing. Paper vs. Plastic. Today, my friends, we tackle a dilemma for the ages. It’s an organizational holy war without peer and it can cause even the most mild-mannered web geek to forsake their IDE for a heavy blunt object.

We’re talking of course about Open Source vs. Commercial Web Software.

Advocates of open source proselytize that software should be set free, and they say the selfless collaboration and grassroots support among open-source developers results in superior software built on trust, cooperation, and civic harmony. And for many companies open source is becoming an increasingly viable option.

Commercial proponents skip the romance. To them, a free market driven by profit motive also drives innovation and weeds out the weak vendors. But the commercial software world also realizes that pressure from open source pushes them to innovate and refine their offerings to attract and keep their customers.

So let’s get down to brass tacks. What follows is a point-counterpoint dialog featuring George Ross, ISITE Design’s Technology Director debating… himself. Let’s listen in as Open Source George (who digs the enthusiasm and quality of community-driven software) matches wits with Commercial George (who values the innovation in a competitive commercial marketplace — and software vendors who keep late support hours).

Open Source George

Aren’t all software vendors capitalist pigs? It’s all about selling licenses and not about delivering a superior product. You build software for the almighty dollar and if that happens to intersect with customer needs, all the better.

Commercial George

How come no one, even you, remembers that there’s commercial open-source software? Software that often costs more than commercial packages. Commercial open source is a way of exploiting the efforts of the masses for the benefit of the few. It is the software equivalent of organic free-range chickens. We all feel good that it’s organic, but is it really any better for the chicken or the consumer? Anyway, what CTO is going to agree to something without an 800 number?

Open Source George

And what CFO is going to sign off on a $100K CMS purchase when they could get it for free? The last time I checked, the CFO trumps both of us.

Commercial George

Free? It runs on something, it’s implemented by someone and supported by someone. It is as free as a free cell phone. Even a cell phone comes with a binding 2-year contract. Getting a divorce is easier and cheaper.

Open Source George

What, did commercial software suddenly stop needing hardware and an implementation team? Those are all things companies will require whether or not you pay for your software.

Commercial George

Given those costs, what is the software license anyway…a rounding error?

Open Source George

I’m glad you’re in technology and not in finance. And I am guessing that Wall Street doesn’t agree with you either. And why should I pay $100K for something that is a black box? If something goes wrong, I am at the mercy of a vendor who offers up two support folks who spend their days begging the developers to fix errors. They’re the same developers who are being driven on a death march to the next release.

Commercial George

At least there is trained and competent support. We don’t have to rely upon Franz in Dusseldorf between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM to contribute to the project.

Open Source George

But isn’t that the point? Why should we all be at the mercy of your development schedule and profit targets? Why not open up development to everyone? And remind me again, when was the last time that a vendor put out their next major release on schedule?

Commercial George

But we aren’t a giving society. Franz’s calendar doesn’t work? Well, deal with it. And good luck finding open source developers the will work for ‘the man’.

Open Source George

Well, then you can fix it yourself.

Commercial George

Not if the code is hairy and Franz has used some klugey way to do things. I have to wait for him to pause Grand Theft Auto to get an answer.

Open Source George

I know this is hard to get through your thick corporate skull, but it’s open source, moron. Rewrite the module and contribute back to the community. We are all in this together.

Commercial George

But really, can you find truly gifted, seasoned programmers who know a complete open source platform? Are they out there? Do they exist? Isn’t everyone a self-professed PHP programmer? I believe in Santa Claus. I have a great conversation with the Easter Bunny each spring. But rock star open source programmers? Or trainers? Sorry, that just doesn’t compute.

Open Source George

There are plenty of great open source programmers out there. And while a corporation that’s new to the game may have a hard time finding them, with a little effort you can find a Mozart of PHP. Ask your friends and developers. In reality your .NET developers are all PHP programmers on the side. And when was the last time you had to pay for a Vignette or Interwoven developer? Was it fun paying the equivalent of the gross domestic product of France for them? How did that feel?

Commercial George

But what you, my open source friend, can’t find is someone who can deliver proper training on the software platform. Or documentation. Googling “Joomla bugs” doesn’t cut it. Neither a CTO nor a CFO will sign off on that. Commercial software includes documentation. Most open source products are like parachutists without the parachute. Or really is it like parachutists with an “easy” 40 step process to putting together their parachute only after dropping out of a plane at 5,000 feet. Because isn’t that the number of steps necessary to install most open source platforms?

Open Source George

Actually most now have install programs that are quite easy to use. Plus, how many commercial vendors deliver on the promise of useful documentation? How often do you need to know exactly how the black box is making a specific API call and all you can find in the Programmer’s Guide is that, yes indeed, that API does in fact exist.

Commercial George

Great, so you’re still left relying on two guys working out of a basement. That’s comforting. Let me start the downloading process and see if I can hammer out the contractor agreement with Franz.

Open Source George

Why do you feel the need to say they all work out of their basement? Isn’t it possible that parents let their 25-year-old kids work out of their room on the second floor?

Commercial George

Let’s move on. The product roadmap. Commercial vendors build for the customer, not for their own technical whims. It’s about solving clients’ business problems. Not about building a cool new approach to integrating with a calendar so you can get virtual fist-bumps from a teenage coder in Taiwan.

Open Source George

Whose business problems? A vendor’s business problems start and stop at its bottom line. And does “client business problems” really mean the commercial vendor’s top 5 clients because they bring in more than 80% of the revenue? Do that and everything else will be a-ok.

Commercial George

A-ok? Come on. Commercial vendors love everyone equally. And they do so by having focused development. Thankfully, vendors don’t approach software as it they operate a Woodstockian, free-love enterprise that results in loads of questionable code.

Open Source George

Oh and the fact that commercial software platforms are continually built on top of legacy code that has no shot in Hades of supporting fundamental web standards is any better?

Commercial George

But are you forgetting that while open source platforms profess to support standards, they themselves are not developed according to a standard.

Open Source George

But just like blogs, open source software is a self-policing meritocracy. If something is wrong or if something is questionable then it’s fixed. In the case of commercial software, who knows?

Commercial George

Oh come on. Open source programmers are the most egocentric people in the world. This just in: their code stinks too. But I guess it doesn’t matter. There isn’t a service level agreement, so does it matter?

Open Source George

No it doesn’t. In an open source product you can pin point weaknesses in code and fix it yourself. You don’t have to wait for slow moving corporations that are reluctant to admit fault to respond to real problems in a timely manner.

Commercial George

You mean problems like getting hacked? When was the last time that an open source platform was security tested? Isn’t an open source platform the equivalent of the bank that leaves its vault attended by a 75-year-old security guard with a cap gun?

Open Source George

That’s odd. I thought that was part of a company’s development and deployment processes. Are you so naïve that you think just because you wrote a big fat check to someone that they actually did testing for security intrusions? Have I mentioned this bridge that I’m looking to sell?

Commercial George

You know, sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. And as a true American I think it’s important to point out that “open source” is just another way of saying “communism.” And just like what we did in the '80’s, won’t open source be defeated?

Open Source George

Why do you hate freedom?

Commercial George

I don't hate freedom, but freedom is not free. It is bought and paid for by valiant young men and women each and every day. The idea that anything of any value is truly free is absurd. Commercial software, like freedom, is what makes this country great.

Open Source George

No, what makes this country great are people coming together under the auspices of a common goal and love for their common man. To do things not for themselves, not for the almighty dollar, but for the love of this country.

Commercial George

Right, love of their common man, I am going to glue hundred-dollar bills to your naked body and drop you in a dollar-store parking lot so you can experience that love.