Week 7 was very muddy for me. A lot of the concepts feel
over my head and I have had a hard time wrapping my head around them. Open
Source Software (OSS) was one of the main points discussed. OSS is a type of
software that is free and available to anyone. The code can also be changed or
modified by any person who is looking at it. With potentially thousands of
users, this can improve the quality of the program and fix a lot of the bugs
found in the software. As found in the text, there are numerous benefits to
companies using OSS.
1.
COST- eliminates a cost spent developing their
own operating system or licensing; zero marginal costs
2.
RELIABILITY- there are multiple people
constantly checking for problems/bugs and improving product quality
3.
SECURITY- problems can be addressed with greater
speed and reliability
4.
SCALABILITY- has the ability to handle
increasing workloads or to be easily expanded to manage workload increases
5.
AGILITY AND TIME TO MARKET- may be able to skip
segments of the development process; allows new products to reach the market
faster
A few of the most well-known OSS are Firefox, Open Office,
Apache, Linux, & MySQL.
Cloud computing is another type of software that is growing
in popularity. Cloud computing replaces computing resources (hardware or
software) with services provided over the Internet. Software as a Service
(SaaS) is a type of this. SaaS is when a firm subscribed to a 3rd
party software replacing service that is delivered online. This could be
payroll or distribution costs for vendors and reduced risk of software piracy
(because it is free to start with!). However, there are some risks associated with
it.
1.
DEPENDENCE ON A SINGLE VENDOR
2.
CONCERN ABOUT THE LONG TERM VIABILITY OF PARTNER
FIRMS
3.
USERS MAY BE FORCED TO MIGRATE TO NEW VERSIONS-
possibly incurring unforeseen training costs and shifts in operating procedures
4.
RELIANCE ON A NETWORK CONNECTION- which could be
slower, less stable, and less secure
5.
DATA ASSET STORED OFF SITE- could lead to
security and legal questions
6.
LIMITED CONFIGURATION, CUSTOMIZATION, AND SYSTEM
INTEGRATION OPTIONS
7.
THE USER INTERFACE OF WEB BASED SOFTWARE IS
OFTEN LESS SOPHISTICATED AND LACKS THE RICHNESS OF MOST DESKTOP ALTERNATIVES
8.
UNAUTHORIZED IT SUPPORT
Virtualization is described in the textbook as an operating
system for an operating system. Basically, it is a type of software that allows
a single computer to function as if it were several different computers, each
running its own OS and software. It can computing more efficient,
cost-effective, and scalable. You take pieces of hardware (ie: CPU, memory,
storage) and break them up. Then, you give the piecing to virtual machines who use
them as if they were the original whole. You can use this for running several “virtual
computers” on a single physical host computer system. This would be a perfect
tool for a company who wanted to run OS X and
Windows on a Mac computer.
Virtualization was one of the harder concept for me to wrap my head around. I found this video on Youtube which helps alot!
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