451 CAOS Theory 
A blog for the enterprise open source community
The biggest myths about open source software
Matthew Aslett, April 29, 2009 @ 5:07 am ETI was thinking about the myths surrounding open source software and thought it would be interesting to take a straw poll of @caostheory and @maslett followers to see which were considered the biggest myths.
In no way are the results to be considered scientific (the final two options provide evidence of the informality of the poll), but after 138 votes a picture has emerged that indicates that the biggest myths are:
- It’s free - 17%
- It’s developed by amateurs - 14%
- It’s not for mission critical apps - 11%
- It’s not supported - 10%
- It eradicates vendor lock-in - 8%
The poll is still live and you can still take part, and see the latest results, below:
Categories: Software
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Heh. Open source software should be free - as you know the OSI definition of “open source” meets all four criteria of RMS’s four freedoms of free software. It’s funny that this is seen as a “myth”.
The actual source code may be free, but often times people tend to overlook the costs of implementation, maintenance, support, customizations, and much more. When the “project” is said and done, the price tag often ends up being above $0. The cost savings can still be immense, but by no means is it always “free.” I believe that is the myth, that he was trying to point out. It is called open source software, and not free software for a reason.
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