Open Source Daily Journal

It is a common idea that there are people responsible behind every form of open source software. These people are more specifically accountable in creating and improving the software as a whole. Public collaboration is as well possible mainly because of the varying uses that the open source software caters to and these include company developments and personal use of websites. One concrete example is the popular open source software, WordPress. This software was in fact created by numerous developers leading to its recognizable benefits known by majority of the online users today. May it be for one’s personal use and interest of earning or for a company’s aim to widen its reach, definitely, open source software is effective and a reliable software that could contribute to said uses. Nevertheless, the continuous increase in users and developers will lead to the rapid increase of source codes that could as well widen the benefit of the software to the online community.

Open source software is considered to be an effective means of developing businesses. Particularly, such kind of source contributes to the following vital aspects in business: support, quality, and security. It supports a company or business through the adoption of the said software which then helps the business provide quality services thus paving way for profit. Open source software as well contributes to quality. This is most evident in telecommunication sectors where the software allows massive improvements both in the aspect of price and performance of its involved technologies. Lastly, secured usage goes with the use of this software. Taking for instance, window systems which are prone to virus infection, open source software assures the system’s security through update mechanisms and advisories related to security. Together with this, knowing that open source software caters to a large extent of users, system problems and issues on security are easily distinguished and fixed.

Open office is commonly referred to as an alternative of the Microsoft Office. Nonetheless, this open source is believed to have equal benefits and use as that of its Microsoft counterpart. Its features alone exhibit the fact that indeed, its use is enough to satisfy its users. What are the involved features in the Open Office? Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, and Base are features of the Open Office which vary in purpose and use. Writer is a word processor which is used to make documents such as that of letters. Calc caters to spreadsheets which involve inputting a set of data, making of a graph, and others. This works similarly as the Microsoft Excel. Impress is used for presentation purposes such as those used in meetings and planning. This feature includes the creation of PDF files. Draw is used to make illustrative drawings which include flowcharts. Math allows the editing of mathematical formulas which can then be inserted in other Open Office documents. Base involves the creation of a database which can easily be accessed by users.

The wide reach of the open source resulted to several downsides affecting a very important aspect, reliability. There are reasons behind the idea that open source is not completely considered to be a reliable source of information and these are because of its reach and accessibility. Due to the fact that such source is open to varying and a great number of users, information or data disseminated can’t always be ensured to be coming from knowledgeable and experienced users. Its wide reach as well led to difficulty in assuring that reliable data and facts are being presented to the consumers. Another reason behind the issue on reliability is the involved accessibility. Knowing that these users are given the freedom to distribute and use such kind of software, it is not always the case that one can know where an obtained data or information came or started from. With this, it really can’t be said that the involved information is indeed reliable.

Ubuntu and native apps like GNUCash is obviously more than enough to service users for their personal needs. However, when it comes to matters beyond personal finance, specifically business matters, people get more picky and demand more from their software. Stable, reliable, secure and forward thinking business solutions are the buzzwords. Canonical, makers of Ubuntu, understands this and so tackles enterprise issues with the latest version on Ubuntu – Ubuntu 13.04.

According to Ubuntu Cloud Product Marketing Manager, Sally Radwan, “The move towards more user-driven technology choices fosters the message at the core of open-source software, namely to drive adoption among end-users and slowly expand that to the rest of the enterprise.” This about mainstream technologies later on being used for business purposes.

Aside from mainstream technologies though, Ubuntu also focuses on cloud infrastructure with Ms Radwan saying that “the expansion of our [Ubuntu's] ecosystem plays well into the diversification we see in technology choices along the cloud stack. Ubuntu now works seamlessly with various products such as Ceph for storage, Floodlight for SDN, and the Canonical-VMWare collaboration links OpenStack compute (Nova) to the ESX hypervisor.”

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You may be sold on using open source software for you personal finance, but can they be relied on when it comes to something as important and sensitive as FX trading?

Obviously, our answer would be yes.

Take it from OANDA, the award-winning Internet-based forex trading and currency information service provider. OANDA’s fxTrade Platform won multiple awards last year including the “Best Forex Provider” from the Financial Times & Inverstor Chronicle and the “Highest Overall Client Satisfaction” and “Value for Money” awards from Investment Trends.

Well, it seems that OANDA sees the value in open source and so is officially encouraging their developers “to write reusable code, not only for internal purposes, but for sharing externally.” The company also said that their “developers occasionally use open source code contributions from non-OANDA API projects. We customize the code for our own purposes, often fixing bugs or adding value to it as part of that process. We then contribute that updated source code back to the community so others can benefit from it too.”

So if an award-winning fxTrade platform uses open source code, you can bet that other open source software can also be relied on for your trading needs.

Image via OANDA

Open source software and applications are used for all kinds of applications, including all sorts of applications for the financial industry. We have mentioned how you can use open source financial software like GNUCash to monitor and improve your personal finances, but what you might not realize is just how far reaching the effects of open source software can be.

Open source software, in fact, is a very powerful tool that can be used to help developing countries. Take Ubuntu for example. With this free and open OS developing countries around the world with very limited budgets now have a way to provide more computers to schools and government agencies since there is no need to pay for the operating system.

There are also organizations like the Mifos Initiative that builds open source financial software that is being used to help accelerate microfinancing in developing countries by reducing costs. The impact on recipients of the microfinance institutions that use the software is something that cannot be measure.

Image via Mifos

Trying to find open source tools to help your manage your personal finances more wisely?

If you are then you might want to try out GNUCash. GNUCash is a free financial accounting software that is suitable for both personal and small business use. It has a good range of features that will help you keep track of your finances better, from your daily expenses to your investments.

It has a lot of features perfect for small businesses statement reconciliation and reports that automatically generate profit and loss charts, balance sheets and more. When it comes to personal finance it is especially useful for debt reduction thanks to its mortgage and loan repayment assistant that allows you to set up loan payments as scheduled transactions.

The main drawback to GNUCash though is that non-accountants might have trouble with double entry booking. It is definitely not as intuitive or pretty as propriety personal finance software like MoneyWiz. But hey, it IS open source and it’s FREE.

Image via GNUCash

From the very rise of an instant manufacturing to the growth of open-source business models, these trends show that innovation can bloom even in a grim economic climate.
Take a look at the nine trends driving business in 2008 — and a deeper explanation of the ever surprising secrets to Apple’s success. Last spring, the marketer and blogger Hugh MacLeod posted a question on his site: If an open source is such a phenomenon, where are all the open source billionaires? His audience wasn’t bit amused. The open source software relies on a community of a volunteer developer who amend program.

Open source licensing can be used for just about any website or program you make, from mobile games to home and lifestyle websites. But if you are wondering how to license your creation under an open source license or if there is even an appropriate license for it, the best way to go about it is by checking out the complete list of open source licenses.

Since the list is not that short and licenses are never fun to read, you can narrow down your search by looking at each category and reading up only on the licenses that are obviously related to your field. You can also just check the popular licenses.

However, if you do not find a license that suits your specific needs and conditions even after looking at all existing open source licenses, you might want to try getting a license. Note that your license application will get thoroughly reviewed to ensure that it is not duplicative, is readable and understandable, and that it is reusable.

Image via Gregoire Lannoy