As incredible as it appears, there are outfits and foundations out there that actively develop and distribute software for no cost. The reason for them doing this is varied, but the advantages to the customers is immense.

A long time back in the 70’s, computer hobbyists and nerds would build software and give it to other hobbyists for nothing to try and improve it. That was until a man called Bill Gates who saw a business opportunity in creating software for computers and constructed Altair BASIC. Unfortunately for him, his software was also passed around and he ended up writing a angry letter pointing out why software should not be free (try Googling Bill Gates Open Letter).

In the past few years, the open source community has been acquiring a large foothold in the software market, essentially caused by developing countries who can’t afford the licensing fees of commercial software like Windows, Excel, Dreamweaver and even Programming Languages.

There are free versions of probably everything, from e-commerce solutions to computer applications. The open source concept has even hit the food and drink market with open source recipes for wine and beer now free on the Internet. I am even typing this informative article on a piece of open source software called Open Office, a free substitute to MS Word, and it’s powered by Ubuntu, a free substitute to Windows or Mac OS X.

When it comes to websites, there is a wide range of free available to power any kind of site. Web development companies such as Wordpress and Wikimedia Foundation release products free for webmasters to use. What makes it very attractive is that open source customization can be completed by most of companies around the Earth.

Using open source software for your site sets up a low cost base from which to commence, eg Wordpress is fantastic for virtually any sort of website, but with a bit of Wordpress customization you can have it meet your exact specifications for a fraction of the price of developing it from the beginning.

Before you order your next computer programme, always research to see if there is an open source option available. Especially during these economic conditions, open source products may be one way you or your organization can lower its costs.