Freedom from Proprietary Software

Commercial proprietary software is software which is sold under a licence fee (usually calculated per user) and which is owned by a single organisation that controls all aspects of its development and distribution. Because of this, the proprietary software business model is ruled, and haunted, by secrecy.

If your organisation has previously procured large (or even small) proprietary software systems you may well have found that the reality of the delivered system did not live up to the promise.

We talk to many organisations who have found that their substantial investments in proprietary content management systems, services and infrastructure have only marginally improved their operational efficiency, and have failed to meet a range of technical and cultural requirements – ranging from definable problems such as non-compliance with web standards, through to more intangible issues with usability and day-to-day effectiveness within the organisation.

When a software project is based on Open Source software, you have full control over all aspects of the development, deployment and support. You are not locked in to one vendor, and you can do as much or as little customisation to the system as you need. There are no prescribed upgrade paths and no hard limits on numbers of users or volumes of data.

Our clients engage us because they want to take back control of their software projects with a solution that offers excellent value for money.

Find out more about Open Source Software
Find out more about Plone

Flexibility
We can customise Open Source Software to meet changing business requirements, and we can do those customisations completely in line with our clients' strategies

Trust
There is no culture of secrecy in Open Source Software. The community has no vested interest in covering up bugs or faults. When a bug is seen by many people, it is fixed quickly.

Cost
Because Open Source Software carries no licence fees, initial acquisition and ongoing costs are much lower.

Security & Track Record
Many expert eyes look at Open Source software, both inside and out, in a way that is impossible with proprietary software. This leads to demonstrable improvements in security and reliability.

Vendor Choice & Stability
If the vendor of a proprietary software system dissolves or gets bought out, their customers can often be stranded. This situation is almost impossible with Open Source software.