I recently attended an event that revealed a lot about how the general market views open-source technology. The title of the event was “Open Source vs. Microsoft,” and it included a panel debate between a successful open-source company and a well known Microsoft systems integrator. The goal of the debate was to give both sides of the fence an opportunity to present their arguments and perspective, so that the attendees could choose a technology platform with insight on the pros and cons of each camp.
Perhaps the most significant insight gained by the audience was that open-source and Microsoft-based technologies can co-exist and, in certain instances, rely on each other significantly. The debate astutely covered the little-known fact that one of the largest open-source projects in the world, DotNetNuke or DNN, is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. DNN has been around for more than 3 years and is a mature framework used for community and portal development. In fact, more than 450,000 organizations are adopting it worldwide, including Gemstar-TV Guide and Texas Instruments (which also happen to be R2i clients). Although DNN is not the platform for every project, it certainly is gaining momentum nationally.
Given the “Open Source vs. Microsoft” vibe of the event, I am not surprised that there is still a strong impression that open-source and Microsoft technologies are mutually exclusive. With platforms like DNN, you will still use Microsoft tools and perhaps their server products, so it may not feel 100 percent open-source. However, a platform decision should be based on your particular needs and how well the solution fits from a functional and cost perspective, as opposed to arbitrary loyalty to the technology behind it. At R2i, we are very experienced with a variety of open-source systems (e.g., PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, etc.) as well as proprietary-source development platforms, and we weigh client needs against a given system’s benefits. When we educate our clients on the benefits of open-source software as well as the various technologies available, many of them are genuinely surprised at the maturity of the solutions, and there is often an increased comfort level when they learn they can have a solution that is both open-source and based on Microsoft technology.
I would simply encourage everyone to take a closer look at the growing open-source community (www.SourceForge.net is a great starting point) and examine whether open-source vs. Microsoft (or any other traditional player, such as IBM) has become a dated issue.
Cheers,
Chris Chodnicki / Partner, CTO - R2Integrated