Introduction
Open source software is a type of software that is open and free to use. Users of open source software are able to modify and customise the software to meet their individual needs. Companies that develop open source software look to create a large user base of their product by making it readily available to the market. This makes the software understandable, modifiable and accessible to its users, which is the aim of the open source format. [1]
MySQL AB is the world’s most popular open source database software provider with over 100 million copies of its software downloaded in its history. Its database MySQL is fast, reliable and easy to use quickly making it a real competitor to the traditional closed source systems of Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. MySQL looks to provide a high quality service and satisfy its customer’s needs while upholding its open source values. [2]
Advantages of the open source format
The main advantage of open sourcing MYSQL is the increased accessibility of the product. Breaking into the database market is extremely hard as huge multi-million dollar firms (Microsoft, IBM etc.) dominate the industry. On many occasions new and acclaimed software have not made an impact on the market, as customers are reluctant to buy products outside the tradition firms. By making MySQL free to download it encouraged users to try out the database without being locked into the product. This resulted in MySQL fast and reliable system getting installed on millions of computers worldwide. For a relatively small company MySQL AB had thousands of users that understood how to operate their system and could appreciate its benefits first hand. [3]
Open source software allows for constant modification and fine-tuning of the product as users are allowed access to the applications code, this in turn greatly extends the lifetime of the application. Closed source applications have a very short functional life, as they cannot change with time, as a result upgrades and new software constantly has to be bought. Having software available in source forms means the applications can change with varying conditions and be improved easily. This gives MySQL an advantage over its competitors as small low budget companies could potentially run MySQL for a decade with little addition cost. [4]
Being able to customise the database software also enables businesses to modify the application to their individual needs. Each business using MySQL could tailor the system, using the open source code, making it more efficient in their own particular market. As a consequence for most small business’s MySQL can outperform the one-dimensional products offered by the large closed source firms. So not only are companies saving money by installing free open source software the system they are receiving a system that they can integrate better into their business. [7]
Another benefit to MyQSL is that open source software tends to have far less ‘bugs’ than closed source systems; this is an advantage that MySQL should be keen to highlight to potential customers. Most applications that are developed contain bugs and even with testing some make it to the final product.
"If builders built houses the way programmers built programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization." -- Gerald Weinberg
With open source software, users can see the code enabling them to spot and correct problems their self before any damage occurs to the data. Bugs are therefore more visible and rapidly corrected this results in maintenance costs being lower for companies that install open source database software. With closed source products the only way to correct problems is to pay the original developer, as they are the only ones with access to the software code. These fees can be high and may encourage small businesses towards the open source route. [5][6]
Disadvantages of the open source format
The problem MySQL AB has is how can it generate substantial revenue if its product is essentially free to operate. In traditional closed source firm’s revenue is 60% software sales and 40% service support. For open source firms this dramatically switches to 0% sales and 100% support. Free software will attract more users, which should result in drastic increase in the amount of support fees. Companies like Digital Domain experienced a 100-fold increase in the amount of users of their applications when they open sourced their products. Consequently even if a small fraction of new users needed support they would expect a significant rise in revenue. The problem is most users don’t seem to need (or want to pay for) service support. [5]
The conversion funnel states that only 1% of people downloading an application will go on to be a paying customer. Executives at MySQL AB have figures calculating their percentage of paying customers from number of downloads to be drastically lower with just 0.0001%. Consequently MySQL AB needs a gigantic amount of installations to create substantial revenue. By having the software code available to all users means that the installer can solve most problems their self thus reducing the need for service support.
MySQL AB may also find new problems if they can manage to get a large amount of paying customers. Open source software can at times be more complicated than normal software. Due to high competition closed source products are designed for easy installation but some open source products need a certain level of expertise for installation. If a customer does not understand the code he may not be able to use the product easily and reap the potential benefits. This could lead to multiple complaints that could take up most of MySQL AB’s staff time. Less energy could then be put into developing the software as customer service takes a more central role. [8]
Conclusion
In general, MySQL AB has benefited from supplying open source products. Due to it being open source MySQL has been installed on millions of computers worldwide making it a household name. If there was a purchase fee on the software it would be unlikely that MySQL would have been able to break into the database market so successfully but instead they may have joined the long line of failed products. Small businesses now understand how open source products like MySQL can bring the customisation level they need at a low price. As long as MYSQL keeps developing and adding new features the amount of installations are only going to increase bringing with it a rise in revenue.
References
[1] Open- Source Software article on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software
[2] About MySQL http://www.mysql.com/company/
[3] MYSQL Open Source Database in 2006 (B)
[4] Advantages of Open Source Software (2000) by Jesus M. Gonzalez http://eu.conecta.it/paper/Advantages_open_source_soft.html
[5] The Economics of open Source Software (1999) by Philip E. Varner http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~pev5b/writing/econ_oss/advantages.html
[6] Benefits of Open Source Code (2007) by James A. J. Wilson
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/whoneedssource.xml
[7] Benefits of Using Open Source Software
http://open-source.gbdirect.co.uk/migration/benefit.html
[8] Disadvantages of Open Source by Dmitri Rotow http://www.gismonitor.com/articles/comment/061903_Dmitri.php
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