The Emergence of Open Source Software

1.- What are the pros and cons of having so much open source software enabling the Internet?

Pros are :

-Freedom of modifying software in order to improve it.

-They do not have any cost.

-Anybody with the adequate knowledge can contribute to improve the open source systems and help to develop better services.

Cons are:

-There should be some limitations towards what software’s are open source.

– It could be used for other purposes rather than good ones.

2.- For what types of applications do you think open source is better than proprietary software? When is it worse?

As the reading says Google maps started charging and placing advertisements for the use of their software. Maps that are open sourced are a good example. Maps are needed and it could be improved by people in order to make them more accurate. I also think Linux develops open source software that in wrong hands can be a problem. An example is Kali Linux.

3.- Find a for-profit company that is distributing open source software. What is the software? How does the company make money? It is revenue model sustainable?

There are companies that are open source oriented but they charge some money in order to give you an upgraded service or tools. WordPress is a clear example of open source software that makes revenues. The way WordPress works is that they give the free open source system but if you want to upgrade your account you need to make a payment. Other examples working in similar ways are: MySQL that is a popular relational database, Magento an E-commerce shopping platform. Magento work with subscribers that want to make electronic commerce. This includes sales and purchases. There is also Zimbra an email and messaging server. Zimbra is an open source tool collaboration for email calendaring, tasks and more.

Global Picture Sharing: Flickr

1. Why do you think Flickr has been so popular throughout the world?

Because of they developed unique features then. One of them where the “tag” option that Flickr introduced to the online photo sharing. The organization of the photos that make users easy to find them also was a unique feature. Also notes in images tell short stories about the person involved in the picture. Flickr integrated Facebook connect in 2010 and this allowed users to connect with Facebook from Flickr page. Also Flickr added Yahoo! maps and included geotagged photos. This feature helped users to utilize images uploaded by other users as references especially in places where “street views” were not available.

2. What lessons could a Web site for a local business learn from Flickr?

Even though Flickr and a business We site are totally different there are lessons that businesses can learn from Flickr. Some of the lessons that a business can learn are the constant improvement that Flickr did in order to satisfy their users. They realized that photo sharing already existed but they added new features that make the site unique and popular. So innovation combined with improvement are two main things that Flickr applied to their site and I think a business can apply to their Web Site too.

3. Where do you see the future of Flickr in the face of many competing photo sharing applications?

There are huge competition in the photo sharing applications and sites. A site that was considered to be the next social media giant is Pinterest. Pinterest also works with the photo sharing basis. Pinterest has been considered the third social media site with more impact behind Facebook and Twitter. This site works with a similar feature from Flickr, the tagging option is also available in Pinterest. Pinterest was developed after Flickr and also is being utilized in some businesses as a social media tool.