Security Brawl

WHICH IS MORE SECURE? OPEN SOURCE VS PROPRIETARY

Allison, Jeremy

July 2001

Interactive Week

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=a5bf2753-75c8-4b15-9508 5526a14f726a%40sessionmgr12&vid=3&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=4843633

A triangle has many sides so is the point of view in one situation. This one page article contain the basic but vital information to take into consideration when dealing with an open source or a proprietary library system. What's good about the article is that both of the person are legitimate programmer which make them credible in voicing out their opinion of such matters.

Learnings

Name does not says it all.  When you buy personal things, you usually go for the product with branding names for they are supposed to be 'trusted' brands, unfortunately that is not always the case. It is good to take note how Allison was able to compare the situation and make examples of the past experiences which brought us back to the 'love letter' from Microsoft. We know how stable is Microsoft but the virus that attacked their system cost millions of lost for business firms and the  core of learning must be cautious to make the same mistake.

Free is not always free. I remember my friend saying that 'nothing is free in this world anymore.' Well, I must slightly disagree with that one but that is not our focus for today, for we must not neglect that saying. Usually these "free" things comes with hidden charges that surfaces through time. 

Your needs. It is not wise to base your need by taking what is popular. You will lose big amount if you always compare your standards to what is temporarily in. What is the need of your library? Focus on that because the needs depends on your goals and with this you can now weigh what is of more value for your institution, getting and open source or a proprietary.

Being gullible in this concern as a librarian would be fatal. As an individual librarian this is an eye opener regarding open source and proprietary giving me facts that could weigh in a situation. There is no universal solution for every problem, that is what I thought after reflecting in this reading. Though there is a universal understand of the sum of the triangles, personal situations don't work that way, that is why it is important to scan your environment for certain situations. As a librarian working in school library (and in the kind of setting that we have) I can have the option or the privilege to use the open source. Why? Because our focus is teaching students and not more as a data bank but that is our current situation it is subdue to change when pressing times might come that is I personally do not close myself to the possibility of taking proprietary. 

Allison, J. (2009). Which is more secure? open source vs. proprietary. Interactive Week. 8(28). 23. Retreived from: http://web.ebscohost.com