Proprietary Solution or Open Source is a question that has been long debated and still haunts a lot of companies and individuals. Its a difficult choice to make, specially to choose technology solution for the first time and update a legacy systems to an advanced automated system.
Just in case you wish to know what Proprietary and Open Source Solutions are:
Proprietary Solutions are the ones developed by one company and they sell these solutions to end users and charge for it and no other company has right to modify it like iOS(Apple) and Windows (Microsoft) and Photoshop (Adobe)
Open Source Solutions are the ones for which the original code is developed by one company and has given the right to other companies and individuals to modify and customize it like Android and Linux and Firefox
A lot of people think that Open Source is a better Solution as no single company has a monopoly to it but such is not the case. Both could be a good solution based on how you are placed.
For example: iOS and Android: I think between the two, if you have money and can shell out a few bucks on a good phone then iOS (Apple )- A proprietary Solution is the choice and if cost is a constraint then Android- Open Source is the one to go for.
The difference in the two's approach is that Apple charges you a one time bigger amount charge and give you a product and concentrate on coming up with better product and innovation while Android phones are not costly however make it mandatory for you to have a gmail account to be able to access their phones, and they earn money by selling your information for various purposes. They track the way you use your phones and steal (if I may use that word) your personal information as all your phones usage is synced with their servers and they literally everything about you.
If you plan to update your legacy system then the choice of technology- open source or proprietary would make a difference between who do you plan to pay more - the company that is developing a tailor software for you, or a renowned company which already has a product for companies like you and would customize their solution a bit to suit your needs.
But how does it make a difference to you ?
Well, a good and an important question.
Some companies have a unique work flow and process which is not generalized to other companies, and wish to retain the same after automation or technology integration. and if you choose a Proprietary solution then that might be wise decision and the transition from being a legacy system to an advanced system would never be smooth and eventually the whole technology solution might fail and give you hard time. You might eventually scrap of this solution and go back to use the same old ways of working eventually costing you time and money.
Some companies have a generalized work flow or at least wish to standardize their processes while upgrading to an automated system, then customized solutions (or Open Source) would never address the details and the final developed system might not as thought of as a proprietary solution and also would be a costly affair. And Though a lot of people who always debate that in the longer run a custom solution pays off as you wont have to pay any renewable fee like you would for a proprietary solution however practically you would have never really been able to achieve the results that you had set out for besides automating the system and which was to standardize your process to a more common one.
So never rush in making a choice and list out the priorities that you intend to achieve before choosing a solution.
Any questions or queries would always be welcome.
