Consider Open Source
Mosili is a strong proponent and believer of Open Source principles. While we look at all the alternatives when choosing a technology, Open Source solutions often provide many unique advantages. We feel that no major technology decision should be made without considering the possibility of using an Open Source solution.
More and more enterprises are turning to Open Source to gain competitive advantage and to cut costs while still excelling at innovation. Mosili offers professional services that assist our customers create solutions based on Open Source technologies. We can help companies to plan and build new solutions, or to move their existing systems to Open Source products.
The world of Open Source has come a long way since its inception and can now be considered as a mature technology and a competitive solution. It is well known that the quality of these products meet and often exceed the quality and reliability of their commercial counterparts. Indeed, there are several open source applications that are unquestionable leaders in their respective product areas. Some examples include:
- Linux, the world's fastest growing operating system, is open, stable and easily accessible. Its readiness to be employed to run mission critical applications as well as an enterprise-class operating environment has been proven through several practical implementations and research papers. Global technology leaders, such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle have based much of their product lines on this operating system.
- Apache is the most popular web server on the web, according to Netcraft web server surveys. The August 2002 survey found that 63% of the web sites on the Internet were using this web server. Apache is more installed than all other web servers combined together.
The Open Source industry also offers a full range of business and personal applications and tools -- application servers, database solutions, email servers, business office suites applications, desktop environments, chat and conferencing, integrated software development tools, and more!
Open Source products and applications are not limited only to Linux platforms. There are readily available Open Source solutions that could be integrated and implemented on other well-known operating systems. Examples of these include different versions of Microsoft Windows operating system, UNIX like systems (Solaris, HP-UX, BSD, Linux and others), Macintosh and others.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) of Open Source products is a major turning point for the architects and designers of enterprise systems. The Open Source TCO should be looked through several factors:
While features and cost are important, Mosili understands that security, reliability, and scalability are just as important. It must be assured that these factors are not compromised through cost savings. Open Source industry is often the leader rather than the follower when it comes to these important factors of modern enterprise systems and software solutions.
Open Source gives the customer a full control of their future. When customers do not like how one vendor is serving them, or if that vendor stops supporting the product, they can switch to another without endangering their current infrastructure. With an Open Source solution, customers are always completely protected from monopolistic practices, price manipulation, and technology lock-in.