Adopt open source software, SMEs told
Open source technology solutions provider Red Hat Asia Pacific Pte Ltd hopes more small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) will adopt open source software.
"This will help them to save operating expenses and offer flexibility to their business," said director of Asia Pacific/Japan Daniel CF Ng in Kuala Lumpur.
Open source software, which is free, is available to other programmers to use and modify according to their needs. Users only have to pay for other supporting services.
"About 98 per cent of companies in Malaysia are SMEs. We have the infrastructure, we are in the position to increase usage of open source software," he told Business Times in an interview.
According to an Accenture survey, more than two-thirds of organizations worldwide anticipate increasing their investment in open software solution in 2010 and almost 40 per cent said that they expect to migrate critical software to open source within the next 12 months.
"In both the United States and the United Kingdom, respondents cited quality and improved reliability as the key benefits to open source programs. A total of 70 per cent cited improved reliability and 69 per cent said they are finding better security and bug fixing," it said.
The survey found that cost is a huge driver. Of the respondents, 71 per cent said they believed they could save in software maintenance costs.
They also cited savings in total cost of ownership and development costs.
But the main concern is in companies that do not want to share their own open source projects.
"This may be one of the biggest concerns if open source goes in-house and isn't shared with the community. It's this sharing that gives open source its strength," it said.
Source : New Straits Times
Date : 26 December 2012
Afternoon Highlight (27/12/12/221/696)
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