Immigrating to the world of Open-source which is usually called immigration to the world of Linux, is what today many people approve of.
There might be some mistakes though, in what the aims of this immigration to the Open-source world should be. One of these common mistakes is to believe in lower costs of Open-source. Considering the costs of required infrastructures, to mention training of manpower as one of the most important ones, believing in lower costs is probably not quite justifiable.
Other costs will show up when the scope of activity is extended, in such areas as management and support. But immigration could be justified if the main purpose is to reach such goals as more security, total ownership of product and possibility of custom making to fulfill your needs.
Some of the most important parameters of immigration are described hereunder:
Total cost of ownership
Comparing to the world of closed-sources, mostly referred to Microsoft products, this cost is well below for Open-sources. In Open-source world, one owns all the sections of the product which he has acquired. This means the ability to read the source code, changing it and even resale it (depending completely on the type of license purchased).
Support
This is what managers are usually worried about. In large organizations, support is of vital importance. Microsoft has usually considered this case as the weak point of open-source products. But by entry of such large companies as IBM and Novel into this field in recent years, one might say that support has transferred from the list of weaknesses of Open-source products to the list of their forte. Specially, considering that in Open-source products, business is actually based on support, while the product itself is usually offered free of charge.
Security
Security has always been considered as the most important factor for immigration. Perhaps it is for this reason, rather than any other one, that governments encourage the expansion of Open-source. Security is an integral part of Open-source, because, there is no possibility for backdoors or destructive codes when every one has access to the source code. Talking about security, another point is the high number of attacks aiming at Microsoft products. Essentially, you can not claim that Linux is more secure than Windows, but it is quite evident that there are more attacks aiming at windows rather than Linux. Not to forget that Linux is originally designed to be a secure system.
Stability
There are certainly much more people believing in stability of Linux comparing to those who do not think so. The type of design is probably the main factor. In windows, you need to reboot the system when you even install a driver for your printer; but, in Linux you may change the whole operating system with no need to reboot your computer.
The good interaction of Linux with the hard ware, on the other hand, has resulted in its ability to function properly for a long session with no need for reconfiguration.
Performance
Performance in Linux, due to its ability for being custom-made to full extent, which leads to the possibility of sharp increase in performance, has always been considered a strong point. For example, you might create a web server which can fit completely into a floppy disk.
Linux’s most important advantage is that you might operate it with no need of GUI and this is what Microsoft has confessed after a long time and in 2008 introduced its core servers.
Control
In a product, control means that you can change it according to your needs, and because of access to the source code in the Open-source products, this is their inclusive advantage.
Standards
Designing software products according to standards helps them run better and function in coordination with other standard products. In closed-source world, because of lack of access to the source code, you are unable to assess how much the product is in conformity with many standards, namely, from standards for design of products to standards for coding and communication.
In the Open-source world, no product reaches its maturity, unless it is designed based on the open standards which are found in this field.
Documents
In the closed-source world, documents are mainly limited to the operation guides and system management, while in mature Open-source products you may find a variety of documents, from documents of analysis and design to documents of change in the source code.
