Open source: twice the value

I wanted to share this article, even though it doesn't directly involve FreeDOS. CIO Magazine recently ran an article about open source software, "Twice the Value" by Maria Korolov. The article discusses the trend of companies to release software using a dual license: open source, and proprietary.

From the article:

Some software buyers deliberately seek out such dual-licensed software. David Bragg, CIO of the Navy’s Naval Safety Center, says that dual-licensed software can be more secure, more customizable and cheaper than software that’s available only in proprietary form.

“At the Department of Defense, we certainly take security seriously,” he says. “The nice thing about open source is you get to see the code. It allows you to assess the software for security issues.”

Being able to open the hood also allows his team to modify the software if they need to. For example, when his team first rolled out software from Jaspersoft, a little tweaking was needed to integrate it with the agency’s security access cards.

… The naval center opted for the commercial license to get professional support and patching—but also to ensure that Jaspersoft stays in business so it can continue to support the product.

While I generally do not recommend individual developers go with a dual-license (unless you have a lawyer on hand to explain the details to you) it is interesting to see a major magazine like CIO, which is targeted at C-level executives, giving such an encouraging review to using open source software in a business setting.