Industry Trends in Computer Software

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Open Source Software (OSS)

In recent years, Open Source Software has emerged as a revolutionary alternative to traditional proprietary methods. Dong et al (2018) describes open software development as “The online workforce contributes (sic) to the code base of OSS, making it essentially a result of crowdsourcing of the software innovation projects.” In comparison to higher costs of licensing proprietary software and the rigidity of customization, OSS provides a cost-effective collaboration of source code available for public use, allowing the end user to make modifications to suit their program needs. OSS has gained traction in the industry which can be attributed to the notion that “many eyes” communities of developers collaborating on OSS leads to programs that have fewer vulnerabilities leading to fewer security concerns (Synopsis, 2018). The appeal of OSS for businesses can be accounted to the collective nature since they can innovate much faster because “they don’t need to reinvent core functionality” (Synopsys, 2020). Organizations can readily adapt to market changes as software testing and deployment are supported by multiple contributors. An open source audit of 17 industries found that open source components were detected in every software application of those industries. Approximately 64% of codebase in Artificial Intelligence had open source elements, while 68% of open source code was discovered in Software as a Service (Synopsys, 2020). The data collected is an insurmountable indication of how the industry is shifting from the conventional closed source business model to the more viable OSS model. OSS movement is undeniably one of the major trends that is set to dominate the commercial software market.