Open Source Software...

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read some articles about this today...what are the advantages, disadvantages?
aside of course of it being free, stable ba siya? compatibility to other programs etc...

Open source should be supported, promoted--CICT chairman
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:37:00 06/24/2008

MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- Open source software should be promoted as an alternative to more expensive proprietary software, the chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) said during an open source summit.

"Within our country however, there is still a lack of awareness and support for open source software, or OSS, and its benefits. With its significant cost advantage, OSS provides users with a compelling alternative to proprietary solutions," CICT chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III said in a speech he read during the first Philippine Open Source Summit in Cebu.

He pointed out that the "more common option for many users is the purchase of pirated copies of proprietary software."

"There is therefore a need to bring OSS to the awareness of users as a legitimate option and to provide the required support for its implementation," he said.

While the CICT is still advocating "freedom of choice" of software, Chua said that the agency has been using open source software in various projects it leads.

The agency's e-Governance in Local Government Units, or eLGU project, which intends to establish of community eCenters in the country, use software applications developed using open source. Among the e-government applications developed under the project include the Real Property Tax System, Business Permit Licensing System and the Treasury Operations Management System, he said.

"We believe that the marketplace should decide the use of proprietary software versus open source software. We just need to make sure that there exists a fair marketplace and that the consumer is fully informed of the available choices. Currently, government agencies decide on their own on whether to use proprietary or open source software," he said.

CICT has also been using open source software in its iSchools and eSkwela projects.

"These projects provide users the opportunity to enhance their learning experience through the use of PCs and the Internet. Our decision to use OSS in the implementation of these projects is driven primarily by its cost-effectiveness relative to proprietary solutions. Put simply, cheaper computer labs mean more computer labs that we can roll out," he said.
This month, CICT and Intel launched a low-cost computing program that introduced affordable PCs for consumers. They come with open source software.

"By combining our efforts, we will slowly but surely make Filipinos aware of the many benefits that OSS has to offer and that they have a cost effective alternative to proprietary solutions that does not involve software piracy," Chua said.

Copyright 2008 INQUIRER.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Microsoft to developers: ‘Open source is a choice’
By Lawrence Casiraya

• MANILA, Philippines -- At the Cebu open source summit, Microsoft was telling developers it is ready to help them go "primetime."

Microsoft's presence in the summit drew quite an impact, if not harmless ribbing. In a presentation by noted IT entrepreneur Winston Damarillo, mentioning indicators that open source is ready for primetime deployment, one answer reads: "The number of times in a month Microsoft says: ‘We support open source.’"

"My answer to that was: ‘We should have done it earlier,’” said Abet Dela Cruz, Microsoft Philippines platform strategy manager, narrating Monday's panel discussion at the Cebu summit.

Dela Cruz represented Microsoft in the panel along with representatives from IBM and Red Hat.

"It took IBM about 10 years to be at this stage and it is only now that Microsoft is going in the same direction," said Dela Cruz, who is still in Cebu attending the two-day summit.

IBM has been a staunch supporter of open source although the tech giant does sell its own proprietary software.

"Open Source is a broad worldwide phenomenon. There are specific technologies that plug into it, and some of them compete with each other like (Microsoft) Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris and IBM," Dela Cruz said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

"But overall we see it (open source) as a long standing movement that will continue," he added.

Dela Cruz noted that within the SourceForge developer community, there are more than 77,000 listed applications that support Windows, more than half the same number of apps that work on Windows alone.

He noted that Microsoft has opened up APIs (application programming interfaces) on some of its core products such as Windows that enable developers to build applications on top of its platform.

Dela Cruz admitted not too many people recognize open source projects within Microsoft.

"At the end of the day, Linux or Windows were built not for the sake of having an OS alone. My job was to tell developers that they have a choice," he said.