Open source software is now firmly embedded in the business world, says Clare Coulson of the New Zealand Open Source Society, and she says results for this year’s awards prove that.
Coulson says the largest number of entries for this year’s NZ Open Source Awards 2010 was in the Open Source Use in Business category, proving the growing popularity of free and open source software among company owners and managers.
Open source software offers the source code (the “blueprints” from which software is made), and the freedom to modify the software if businesses want to. These modified versions can be passed on to others.
“There were some high-calibre entrants,” says Coulson. “One was New Zealand-made SilverStripe, an open source content management system.”
Since open sourcing its code, it has been downloaded more than 325,000 times globally in less than four years.
Its CEO, Brian Colhoun, says: “We believe that having loads of happy customers is better for our business than relying on restrictive licensing model.”
For more information, see www.nzoss.org.nz

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