Who Owns the Device? Open vs. Closed Devices

What is open source? In production and development, open source is a philosophy, or pragmatic methodology that promotes free redistribution and access to an end product’s design and implementation details. The open-source model includes the concept of concurrent yet different agendas and differing approaches in production, in contrast with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial software companies. A main principle and practice of open-source software development is peer production by bartering and collaboration, with the end-product, source-material, “blueprints”, and documentation available at no cost to the public.

Why open source is better?

• Lower development cost.
• More independence.
• Bug detection and correction is fast.
• There is no single entity on which the future of the product depends.

These are some of the major advantages of open source.

What are its disadvantages?

• There may be significant problems connected to intellectual property.
• It is sometimes difficult to know that a project exists, and its current status.
• More technical ability needed.
• Compatibility.

These are some of the major disadvantages of open source.

What is closed source?

Closed source is the opposite of open source. With closed source, the source code or the blueprint of the product is not shared with the public for anyone to look at or make changes to. Most companies who sell their product for money make it closed source to make it harder for people to change it or copy it for free.

Why closed source is better?

• You can expect documentation on how to use the product.
• You can expect the product to perform in the way it was advertised.
• Company that produces that product can be held accountable if the product does not work as expected.
• You can Count on being able to obtain help / support for the product.
• Compatibility.

What are its disadvantages?

• Higher Cost.
• You can’t look at or edit the source or the blueprint of the product.
• Upgrades are expensive.
• Since you have no access to the source or the blueprint of the product, you don’t know if there are any security holes in the product.

These are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of closed source.

I believe that both open source and closed source have their place today's world. I think that open source plays an important role in academic research because the audience has adequate technical knowledge. This will promote creativity. Since most people lack the technical know-how that is required to take advantage of open source of or handle open source products, closed source is the better alternative since it offers detailed documentation on how to use the product.

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