Open source vs. proprietary? Turn the question around!

The failed argumentation for open source

Often you will find open source advocates trying to tell you all the reasons why you should use open source software: Access to the source, open data standards and cost are often mentioned. Sadly, while these arguments are actually very important – especially the ones relating to freedom of your data and freedom of choice – they are often not appreciated by the wider public. The significance of these issues usually only reveals itself after some exposure to the matter, some discussion and some thinking.

For example, the non-technical public will care very little about access to the source, not realising what degree of freedom this guarantees to them, even if they never look at the source themselves. Same with open data standards. Why change or even care if all the world seems to use the same 'standard' of some proprietary software package, right? The real issue of vendor lock-in is not usually on people's mind.

Why is proprietary the default, not open source?

So, in the end most of the arguments provided by open source advocates fall on deaf ears in the broader markets: They are just not compelling enough for most. But why is that? I mean: Why is it that open source needs to be compelling? Why is it open source that needs to prove its point and make its case?

Why is it not ... gasp! ... the other way around?

Seriously, I am often wondering why the default decision seems to be proprietary, and open source only if it is compelling for some reason, when it seems to be much more logical to think of open source first, and proprietary only if open source absolutely doesn't cut it for some reason.

Turning it around

Let's set a base here first, though, something we can all agree on. If you leave the final decisions open for discussion, it actually shouldn't take much for an option to become a default. Even a slight advantage should suffice to tip the scales at least a little bit. What can we say to convince the non-technical member of the public that open source should be the default? I think it can be explained to people that open source and open data standards – combined with the lack of license fees – actually are an advantage. Maybe only a small one in their eyes, but an advantage nevertheless.

I mean, nobody in their right mind would voluntarily choose software that costs more to purchase and that limits your choices as a consumer, right? Those two points are pretty difficult to argue with. Open source offers lower purchase cost and more freedom than proprietary software. It just might be that the person you talk to doesn't attach much importance to those points. Nevertheless, they are still advantages (no matter how small they may appear). And the zero-license-fee cost advantage is a pretty good point as well.

So, now we can finally turn that question around: Why use proprietary software, if an open source alternative exists?

It appears to me that open source should be the default decision in all cases, and for any kind of software, and that considering proprietary software should only be an option if it has very specific and valuable features that the open source solution doesn't offer. This guideline should specifically apply to public decision makers, which deal with data belonging to their citizens, with funds provided by the tax payers. But it is just as applicable to every single individual or household.

What are the compelling points for non-free software?

But apparently, proprietary software must have some compelling advantage over open source, since otherwise a sane individual wouldn't opt for restrictions over choice, limitations over freedom, paying more over paying less. So, what are those fantastic compelling advantages that it offers? Let's take a look at them.

1. It has support. Really? For the most part, support is for those who pay for it. If you are willing to pay for support, though, you will find that you can get support for most any open source package you care to use. All the way from an open source OS to your favourite open source word processor. So, what exactly is the advantage of proprietary software again?

2. It has those great features. And the open source equivalent doesn't have the feature? And you really need that feature? There are very few things you can do with Word that you cannot also do with OpenOffice, for example. Consider that proprietary vendors rely on license fees and thus need to make it interesting for you buy the next version. But – to stay with word processors for a while – these software packages are basically feature complete. Most of the features YOU need are included already. New features are added to these packages so that it looks like they might be worth the price of upgrade. In reality, it is quite likely that the open source equivalent of whatever you need well and truly exists already and is just as easy to use.

3. Better interoperability. Once you are in a vendor's mono culture, you are being rewarded for giving them all your money by having stuff work together. But it is definitely not more interoperable. It's just more so for components from the same vendor. True interoperability relies on open standards, which should make it possible to swap out individual components for better or competing offerings by someone else. If true interoperability is what you care for, you should definitely choose open source, since due to its open source code implements open data standards by default.

4. It is more secure because nobody can see the code. That's security through obscurity, which has often be shown to be a terribly bad idea and which makes things less secure, not more. In addition, open source offers the benefit of wider inspection of the source code. While no software is perfect, and while even open source can have its share of security issues as well, overall the security benefits of the open source approach have been shown many times already.

5. It's what we are used to. Right. Here is one of the toughest nuts to crack. People don't like to learn new things. Especially, they don't like to learn how to do the same thing in a different way. They just figured out how to format a letter in this word processor, so why should they now learn to do it in some other way? However, the truth of the matter is that for most tasks the difference in how to do things is actually not that dramatic. This is particularly true for some of the most common software in widest use, such as web browsers, word processors and spreadsheets. Someone knowing one package shouldn't have huge problems any more to move on to another software.

6. All our data is in the proprietary XYZ format. Ah, you can see already how your previous decision to use a proprietary software is now beginning to cramp your style. And that's why you want to continue to make the situation even worse by continuing to use it? The open source community has worked hard to reverse engineer many proprietary formats. You can read most documents now into open source software packages. Do that, convert them to open data formats and just don't make the mistake of using closed formats again going forward. This approach works for smaller sets of documents and individuals. For larger organisations with many documents it can indeed become daunting. But even here it is rarely insurmountable. Rather than paying the license fee cost for the next version upgrade, why not instead invest this money in a project that rescues your data from the proprietary formats and thus avoids the issue for you going forward, saving you a lot of money in the long run?

So, most of what could be seen as compelling reasons for proprietary software can be addressed and really evaporate into nothing under closer inspection. In light of this, ask yourself again: Should non-free software really be the default?

In conclusion

Several decades ago the software 'industry' managed to re-write our perception of history and make most people believe that proprietary software is normal, and open source is the aberration, while in reality software actually started out as open.

It is time to change our thinking and to stop trying to justify the use of open source software. It doesn't need justification like that. Free and open software should be the logical, sensible default choice in all cases, with proprietary software only to be considered when there are compelling reasons for it.

Tag(s):  open source  proprietary software  foss