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Open source software projects reach the market much quicker than traditional software programs. Because open-sourced products are constantly being improved and updated, there is little reason to purchase software that only comes out once a year. For instance, OpenOffice, an OS software aiming to compete with Microsoft Office, is updated as often as every two months. On the other hand, Microsoft Office software comes out once a year. Not to mention, OS projects are free-to-use and free-to-update. The 2010 Microsoft Office products range from $150 to $500.62
Open Source and Global Betterment
Open source software saves organizations millions of dollars in information technology. In 2004, large companies with annual revenue of over $1 billion saved an average of $3.3 million dollars thanks to open source software.63 Open source projects are not limited to IT, though. SHPEGS, an Open Renewable Energy Project of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, utilizes the same methodology as OS software projects, which is usually referred to as open design, but aims to create sustainable energy through solar collection that will be “economical, environmentally friendly, scalable, reliable, efficient and location independent manner using common construction materials.”64
Figure 8
Source: Society for Sustainable Mobility
Similarly, the Society for Sustainable Mobility (SSM) of the International Humanities Center is a nonprofit automotive engineering group working on an open design project to create next-generations electric cars.65 Figure 8 shows the open design model for the creation of the car from planning to execution.
Another noteworthy open design project is the Hexayurt, a hexagon-shaped house made of simple materials such as cardboard and plastic. The collaborative product resulted in a cheap, $200 shelter that can be set up in less than 20 minutes. The Hexayurt has been featured in The New York Times and BusinessWeek, and it was also recently presented at the Red Cross Innovative Shelter Convention as possible emergency homes for disaster-stricken areas.66
Government Sponsorship
Governments are starting to look into the benefits of open source codes and are trying to find ways that federal agencies can implement similar programs. In a 2007 report from the Federal Open Source Alliance, 55 percent of all U.S. federal respondents have been or are involved with open source implementations. Additionally, 71 percent of the respondents feel their agency could benefit from open source.67
In 2004, the U.S. formed the Government Open Code Collaborative (GOCC), a partnership amongst public sector and non-profit institutions to encourage the free sharing of computer code developed for and by government entities. However, no new material has been added since 2006, signifying only a partial embrace of this new open source culture by the US government.
62 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101754511033.aspx
63 Walli, S., Gynn, D., Rotz, B. V. “The Growth of Open Source Software in Organizations: A Report.” http://www.novell.com/news/press/pressroom/ wp_optaros_oss_usage_in_organizations.pdf
64 http://p2pfoundation.net/SHPEGS_Open_Energy_Project
65 http://www.osgv.org/frequently-asked-questions/
67 http://www.federalopensourcealliance.com/Press-Release-102607.pdf