Recently, Forbes contributing writer and enterprise software, application development, and data management expert Adrian Bridgwater discussed how important it is to understand what freedom really means in the open source world. In open source, the word “free” refers to the liberty that users have in running, distributing, changing and improving the software, rather than its price.
In fact, while “free” is an appealing word to many C-suite executives, it’s of prime importance that those who are just now considering implementing open source software in their organization understand that it’s the liberty that open source allows that benefits the enterprise, not necessarily the price tag. Open source allows for great freedom for how software is modified, used and shared within an organization, which can lead to greater creativity, innovation, and productivity free from licensing or functionality concerns.