Free <> Better

October 18th, 2013 | by ViaDataWebAdmin |

Just because software is Free, doesn’t mean it is necessarily more desirable or better – as proponents of Free and Open Source Software would have us believe!

A debate is raging in the Cape Town IT community and business press about the decision by the Department of Basic Education to standardise High School IT Teaching on Microsoft Office Based products and the programming language Delphi.

One of the key arguments against the decision is that Open Source software is better, and more ethical than proprietary solutions. The justification goes that we need to build a generation of creators not consumers.  This statement has been repeated by the proponents of free and open source software (FOSS) and has made its way into the language of many within the IT industry. However, is this really a true and fair statement? Are users of FOSS really creating more than users of proprietary products.

I would argue that being free doesn’t make it better, more ethically justifiable or more able to produce some form of improved society.

Firstly, for many developers, the environment and tools in use are merely that – tools. They support a greater purpose of developing solutions.  Whether the tools are free or licensed doesn’t change the fact that they are tools – to be used by the developers.  Few of these developers create new tools , they use the tools to produce solutions.  All they hope for is that the tools they select will remain ‘mainstream’ and supported for the life of the solutions they have developed.  This fact is true for both free and proprietary environments. The key difference is that with proprietary environments, the vendor performs the role of gatekeeper , ensuring that new tools are controlled and that standards and compatibility are maintained.

Secondly, I would argue that with both free and proprietary software, those who want to ‘create’ will create, and publish their solutions. For example, try searching Google for any activity you want to perform in MS SQL Server. The search will yield a plethora of sample code, advice and add-on tools (some free, some available in trial versions and some available as licensed add-ons) but the number of solutions available will be no less (and probably more) than searching for the same solution in MySQL.

The truth is that some people are creators and sharers of information and some are not. Some of the creators will be happy to share their creations for free while others will want to get some remuneration for what they create.  Fortunately, some people recognise the value others have added and will be happy to pay for the work of others while others want to consume without paying. Luckily there is a place for all. Even in the FOSS world there are numerous plug-ins, add-ons and solutions that are not free – but need to be paid for.

So using free and open source software doesn’t make us better, it doesn’t give us a moral high ground and isn’t the only or obvious choice.