Interesting news in the European legislative landscape: Bulgaria has issued a decree that all software used in state institutions and written in their interest must be Open Source. What does this mean for the average taxpayer?
Immediate advantages: Open source applications can be tested for free, technical support can be free, there can be fewer bugs and fewer blockages from the manufacturer.
Disadvantages, because there is also such a thing: Many people believe that over time open source will suppress innovation (because it is not stimulated by a lot of money), decrease added value, increase risks, and make using the product more cumbersome.
We believe that open source is the future, because software needs are growing, projects are becoming more complex and the ability of a company or even a corporation to deliver complete products is decreasing day by day. It's a numbers game here. Specifically, any large company can boast of 10,000 or 20,000 programmers, but their delivery power is limited when we consider that in the open source landscape millions of such programmers contribute and develop.
We must understand that these programmers employed by large companies are passionate about their work and most of them contribute to the open source system using experience gained at work.
Until recently, open source was synonymous with Linux, but recently large companies, such as Microsoft, have begun to invest heavily in this concept and support its development.
Today, the most powerful development tools on the market are open source and the trend is accelerating.
The power of the open source community transcends borders, political and religious orientations, so we end up in situations where Chinese people work with Americans, Iranians and Russians on the same project. Software has the chance to unite us all for a better and more beautiful future, doesn't it? 🙂
And we must also understand that open source does not necessarily mean Linux, and Bulgaria will not switch to using this operating system overnight. The law clearly states only the following: all software purchased by the Bulgarian state will be open source, therefore it will be developed on a platform to which anyone can contribute, and Bulgarian citizens will immediately benefit from any improvements brought by the community at no additional cost.
it all comes down to money – an open source solution will be cheaper than a classic one, will be developed by more people, and may be more flexible.
We believe that the Bulgarians' bet is a smart one for the future.