In Defense of Open Source Software
December 29, 2012
In its Government section, OpenSource.com declares that “Open Source Software Policy is Better Without Open Source.” The confusingly titled article is actually a strong defense of open source software. Writer and self-proclaimed “huge nerd” Gunnar Hellekson of Red Hat believes that special policies for open source software are redundant and unnecessarily prejudiced. He writes:
“When the OMB [the White House’s Office of Management and Budget] and DOD [Department of Defense] declared open source software to be ‘commercial software,’ it wasn’t a bureaucratic trick to legitimize open source. They meant it quite literally: software is software, and whether it was developed by open source, a proprietary company, or a team of monkeys, all the same rules apply.”
Taking the IRS’ guidelines for using open source software as an example, Hellekson explains, section by section, why policies aimed at open source might just as well cover all software. My favorite example pertains to a clause charging that open source developers “don’t typically follow security best practices.” Hellekson retorts:
“When I read this, my jaw dropped. . . . We can’t summarily declare open source developers ‘typically’ less concerned about security. That’s silly. Some of the most-reviewed, most-secured software is open source. Some of the finest minds in security are open source developers.
“Also, it’s not like proprietary software is magically more security-conscious. Proprietary developers can be sloppy, companies can have poor development practices, and it’s just as likely that a bad actor will work for a proprietary software company as contribute to an open source project.”
Touché. The write-up goes on to similarly examine concerns about product support, reckless code contribution, and the IRS’s required FIPS 140-2 compliance. Hellekson’s revised version of the guidelines, with every instance of “open source” crossed through, completes the article. If curious, take a look and see whether you agree that his version is the better one.
Cynthia Murrell, December 29, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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