Is software produced by a community of several hundred thousand programmers around the world is free and can be modified by users?

10. Define and describe open-source software and Linux.How can they benefitbusinesses?Open-source software is software produced by a community of several hundredthousand programmers around the world. According to OpenSource.org, open-source software is free and can be modified by users. Works derived from theoriginal code must also be free, and software can be redistributed by the userwithout additional licensing. Open-source software is by definition not restrictedto any specific operating system or hardware technology, although most open-source software is currently based on a Linux or UNIX operating system. Open-source software is based on the premise that it is superior to commerciallyproduced proprietary software because thousands of programmers around theworld working for no pay can read, perfect, distribute, and modify the source codemuch faster, and with more reliable results, than small teams of programmersworking for a single software company. Although, it may seem that contributorsto open-source software receive nothing in return, in fact they receive respect,prestige, and access to a network of knowledgeable programmers. The open-source movement has been evolving for more than 30 years and has demonstratedafter many years of effort that it can produce commercially acceptable, high-quality software.The most well known open-source software is Linux, and operating systemrelated to UNIX. Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. Linux is one ofthe most prominent examples of free software and open source development:typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, andredistributed by anyone. Linux is supported by corporations such as Dell,Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Novell, Oracle Corporation, Red Hat, and SunMicrosystems. It is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computerhardware, including desktop computers, supercomputers, video game systems,such as the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, several arcade games, and embeddeddevices such as mobile phones, routers, and stage lighting systems. As for Linuxbenefiting businesses, the biggest attraction is freedom, but for a business, thebiggest attractions are cost and productivity. Linux ranges from nearly free topretty inexpensive - depending on distribution. Its stability and speed contribute toproductivity.Microsoft warns that original cost is not a significant factor, whichongoing support costs are far more significant, and they are right, but it is exactly

• The shared technology resources that provide the platform for the firm’s specific information system applications. Includes investment in hardware • Set of physical devices and software required to operate enterprise

Evolution of IT infrastructure

• General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959 to present • Personal computer era: 1981 to present • Client/server era: 1983 to present • Enterprise computing era: 1992 to present • Cloud Computing and Mobile Computing era: 2000 to present

·      Mainframe computers today are used as massive servers supporting large web sites and corporate enterprise app

o  Largest category of computer, used for major business processing

·      Mainframe era was a period of highly centralized computing under the control of professional programmers and systems operators

o  Offered powerful machines at far lower prices

o  Decentralized computering, customized to the specific needs of individual departments or business units

o  Windows operating system software on a computer with an intel microprocessor

·      Client server computing

o  Split btwn two types of machines, the client is the user point of entry, whereas the server typically processes and stores shared data

o  Both the software app and the physical computer on which the network software runs

·      Two tiered client server architecture

o  Client computer networked to a server computer, with processing split btwn the two types of machines

·      Multitiered client server architectures

o  The work of the entire network is balanced over several different levels of servers

Serve a web page to a client in response to a request for service

o  handles all application operations btwn a user and an org back end business systems

o  may reside on the same computer as the web server or on its own dedicated computer

·      transmission control protocol/ internet protocol

o  networking standard to tie their disparate networks together

o  model of computing in which firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the internet

• The power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months • Computing power doubles every 18 months • The price of computing falls by half every 18 months

o  used individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other devices that are thousands of times smaller

The Law of Mass Digital Storage

• The amount of digital information is roughly doubling every year • The cost of storage is falling at an exponential rate of 100 percent per year

·      Matcalfe’s law and network economics

o  He was the inventor of Ethernet local area network tech

o  The value or power of a network grows exponentially as a function of the number of network members

o  Demand for info tech has been driven by the social and business value of digital networks

o  Est the compatiblilty od products and the ability to communicate in a network

infrastructure components

o  computer hardware platform

o  operating system platforms

o  enterprise software

o  data management and storage

o  Networking, telecommunications platforms

o  Consulting and systems integration services

o  Internet platforms

ú  ultra thin computers consisting of a circuit board with processors, memory, and network connections that are stored in racks

ú  manage the resources and activities of the computer

ú  inexpensive and robust open source relative of Unix

ú  it is scalable, reliable and much less expensive than mainframe operating systems

ú  Linux open source relational database product available for free on the internet

ú  Connect multiple storage devices on a separate high speed network dedicated to storage

ú  Creates a large central pool of storage that can be rapidly accessed and shared by multiple servers

ú  Older transaction processing systems

ú  Mainframe computers that continue to be used to avoid the high cost of replacing or redesigning them

ú  Maintains a large web server or series of servers and provides fee paying subscribers with space to maintain their websitrs

contemporary hardware platform trends

·      the costs of computing services and software are high and the intensity of computing and communicating has increased as other costs have declined

o  small, low cost lightweight subnotebooks

o  optimized for wireless communication and internet access with core core computing functions

o  connecting geographically remote computers into a single network to create a virtual supercomputer by combining the computational power of all computers on the grid

o  idle resources, high speed, enormous, control and allocate resources on the grid

o  cost savings, speed of computation and agility

o  purchase their computing services from remote providers and pay only for the amount if computing power

o  industry wide effort to develop systems that can configure themselves

o  protection software

o  updated automatically

• Virtualization: presents computing resources so that they can be accessed in ways that are not restricted by configuration • Allows multiple operating systems to run on one machine; increases server utilization rates from 10-15 to 70 percent of capacity • Multicore processors: reduced power requirements, enhanced performance

• Firms off-load peak demand for computing power to remote, large-scale data processing centres • Firms pay only for the computing power they use, as with an electrical utility • Excellent for firms with spiked demand curves caused by seasonal variations in consumer demand, e.g. holiday shopping • Saves firms from purchasing excessive levels of infrastructure

o  integrated circuit to which two or more processors have been attached for enhanced performance, reduced power consumpotion, and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks

o  software produced by a community of several hundred thousand programmers around the world

o  free and can be modified

o  open source software is by definition not restricted to any specific operating system or hardware tech although most open source software is currently based on a linus or unix operating system

o  operating systems independent, processor independent, object oriented programming language

o  leading interactive programming

o  java software is designed to run on any computer or computing device

o  easy to use software tool with a graphical user interface for displaying web pages and for accessing the web and other internet resouces

o  allows a client and server to exchange small pieces of data behind the scenes so tha an entire webpage does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change

o  a set of loosely coupled software components that exchange info with each other using universal web communication stds and language

o  more powerful and flexible markup lanagauge than hypertext markup language

o  Limited to describing how data should be presented in the form of web pages, can perform presentation, communication and storage of data

·      Service oriented architecture

o  A set of self contained services that communicate with each other to create a work software application

o  Take software from different sources and combine it in order to produce a application that is greater than the sum of its parts

o  Small software programs that can be added to web pages on the desktop to provide additional functionality

o  Prewritten commercially available set of software programs that eliminates the need for a firm to write its own software programs for certain functions

o  A firm contracts custom software development or maintenance of ecisting legacy programs to outside firms

·      Service level agreement

o  Formal contract btwn customers and their service providers that defines the specific responsibilities of he service provider and the level of service expected by the customer

o  the ability of a computer, produce or system to expand to serve a large number of users without breaking down

·      competitive forces model for IT investments

o  market demand for your firm’s services

o  your firms business strategy

o  your firms info tech strategy

o  info tech assessment

o  competitor firms it services

o  competitor firm it infrastructure investments

·      total cost of ownership

o  model can be used analyze these direct and indirect costs to help firms determine the actual cost of specific tech implementations

o  reduce their tco through greater centralization and standardization

– Practices and technologies for manufacturing, using, disposing of computing and networking hardware

– Industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure, heal themselves when broken, and protect themselves from outside intruders – Similar to self-updating antivirus software; Apple and Microsoft both use automatic updates

Total Cost of Ownership of Technology Assets

• TCO model: Used to analyze direct and indirect costs of systems • Hardware, software account for only about 20% of TCO • Other costs include: Installation, training, support, maintenance, infrastructure, downtime, space and energy • TCO can be reduced through greater centralization and standardization of hardware and software resources

Is a free software produced by a community of several hundred thousand programmers around the world?

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