Open-Source Software Comes To The White House
This is far from a political blog, but in this article from the NY Times today, I was THRILLED to see that WhiteHouse.gov is now run by the open-source software package called Drupal.
For me as the Internet Farmer, I love open-source. The software is free, and after using it for over 15 years I’m pretty good at helping clients use it. It is the basis of most of my business. Without it, I would have no choice but to charge high fees that farmers may not afford. Using free software allows me to focus on service, and that is what client’s pay for.
Personally, I don’t use Drupal. It’s a much larger package than me or my clients need in most cases. I keep it simple by using two open-source packages that do most of what anyone needs. I use WordPress for my Blog Newsletter, and Zen Cart for E-commerce. That covers 95% of what anyone needs for their website(s).
What is “open-source software”?
You can find the details of what open-source software is technically here. It can be quite technical and focus on distribution and the code itself, when you get down to it. For me, the keys to open-source are these simple principles:
- It’s free to download and use
- You can change the code to make improvements as long as you are willing to share those changes
- We all benefit from the improvements that we and others make
It’s a real do-it-yourself thing, and it is supported by thousands of programmers and users around the world. People writing software like this are literally giving back by letting the community use, and improve upon, their software. That last part is key… improve upon.
When you make the software better and share it with people, we are all better off for it. I think that idea goes a long way here. Not much different than two farmers sharing ideas is it?
If you are ready to start using open-source software, contact me today, or start some discussion below.