Last updated: December 8, 2017 at 1:15 am
Since the early 1980s, the software industry was a booming one. The professional title “software engineer” was synonymous to “millionaire” and was a name associated with fame and prestige.
One five-star software product after the other was rolled out by one proud software company after the other, to solve a problem that has long plagued the world of work or leisure, bringing a divine downpour of revenue which just kept getting better.
But like anything else in life, the industry soon became overcrowded and over-competitive. On top of that, a group of guys got together and decided that software should be free. Or rather, even people who can’t afford the high price tags associated with some much-needed software should find a free alternative to get their job done. This is where the idea of “free open source software” was born. At first, it lagged behind as commercial giants poured money into the perfection and marketing of their software products. But before long, the team of open source software creators gained momentum.
Today, there are some really good free open source software which mimics the commercial giants such as Microsoft Word and Photoshop. There is quite a crowd who will agree that Free is better than Paid.
The truth is, like everything else in life, it varies. There are some really good free open source software out there that perform better than their costly counterparts. On the other hand, there are some commercial software which just can’t be matched by any open source imitation. Here in Software by Patrick Carpen, you’ll learn to tell the difference.