Day 24 of 30 (in 30 days of Geek) – How do you feel about Open Source vs Proprietary software?

– How do you feel about Open Source vs Proprietary software?

This can be a very passionate topic.  Many of my (Linux using) peers feel very strongly about supporting ONLY Open Source software.  On the otherhand, I work with people in the other camp (alsmost exclusively Microsoft) who refuse to consider the possibility that there is any merit in anything but proprietary software.

I am not an ideological pusher of either, I believe both have their places.

When I need to do image editing and graphics work, or want to chat via facetime I go to my Mac (primarily proprietary apps).

When I want to develop a bit of Java code, I go to Linux and use an Open Source IDE.

When I want to play games, or have a business app that only runs on a Windows PC (our accounting package for example) I go to Windows 7.  Typically proprietary.

I will gladly use a Linux distribution that has lots of Open Source apps, and I find many of them equal to or better than their proprietary equivalents  But there are definately some situations where there is no Open Source options.  I find Photoshop superior to GIMP for example, and I like ARCInfo for GIS stuff and SAS for Statistical work.

So, there you have it.  I have my cake and eat it too.

About andy dingfelder

Andy is a CISO/CTO in the fintech sector with over 20 years of experience in Software Delivery and Team Leadership in multiple industry domains. Master's Degree (MPA) in Public Administration Information Systems and over 10 years of board governance experience for multiple organisations. Full bio is available at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dingfelder and links available at https://linktr.ee//dingfelder or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dingfelder. Andy lives in the Wellington region, New Zealand with his wife and two daughters.
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