Why Open Source?

Open Source software means that the source code from which the software is created is open and accessible to everyone. Compared to building a house, building a "proprietory house" would give you only the use of the house but no control over its maintenance, decoration or renovation, whereas building an "open source house" would give you not only the right of use but also all ground plans, blueprints, technical specifications and ultimate control and decision-making power for the house. Granting access to all the code in software provides a number of benefits:

Open Source accelerates debugging and development. Because the code is transparent, thousands of experts test, improve, and refine it every day, providing feedback down to code level. This creates a uniquely large and effective testbed that no single vendor can match and continuously raises software quality. At the same time, developers know their work is visible to peers worldwide. This drives higher standards, cleaner code, and more robust solutions from the start.

Open Source software gives you freedom! You will never be held hostage by your software or its maker. For example, if you have software that must interact with another piece of software, proprietary software solutions force you to take what you can get. And what if the supplier goes bankrupt or your collaboration ends in some other way? You are left back at square one in trying to do future debugging or in getting new versions of your software. 

The very basis of Open Source software is an openness that ensures interaction between products and makes it impossible for one player to lock customers to their products by concealing the source code.

The foundation of digital sovereignty is Open Source - and about understanding where your data lives, who controls it and what happens if access is restricted or systems go down. To understand how your organisation is positioned in this you can assess your digital sovereignty through our assessment:

The foundation of digital sovereignty is Open Source - and about understanding where your data lives, who controls it and what happens if access is restricted or systems go down. 

With Open Source you can:

• Break the critical dependence on individual suppliers and foreign jurisdictions.

• Promote local innovation by allowing developed code and digital solutions to be reused, shared and improved, rather than being locked away behind licences.

• Ensure long-term flexibility and full control over our own data and infrastructure.