James Knott wrote:
OpenOffice came about because Sun decided to open source StarOffice. As
a result, the two suites are almost identical. Companies use open
source software, because it has a lot of advantages. Instead of
everyone duplicating the efforts of others, the software can be shared.
So, OpenOffice is a community effort, working with what Sun made freely
available.
There are many advantages to open source. Suppose you need an
application, but what's available doesn't quite meet your needs. You
can then make changes as necessary, because the source code is available
for you to do so. It also means bugs are more likely to be found, as
more people are looking at it. (This is extremely important in security
software, such as encryption). Also, you don't have to worry about what
happens if your software supplier goes out of business, as you can take
the software to someone else for them to maintain it.
I think he was talking more about the companies that offer open source
products than the companies that use them.
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