Open Source software is computer software that is available free and in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved forcopyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.
Software experts and researchers on open source software have identified several advantages and disadvantages. Companies that develop using open source software are able to quickly build large applications in less time and save lots of money. Open Source development helps build developer loyalty as developers feel empowered and have a sense of ownership of the end product. Moreover less costs of marketing and logistical services are needed for Open Source Software. It also helps companies to keep abreast of all technology developments. The OSS development approach has helped produce reliable, high quality software quickly and inexpensively.
LAMP Stack
LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, originally coined from the first letters of Linux (operating system), Apache (HTTP Server), MySQL (database software) and PHP, principal components to build a viable general purpose web server. The software combination has become popular because it is free of cost, open-source, and therefore easily adaptable.
- Linux – Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system kernel. A major emphasis of Linux development is security, which makes it an appealing choice for a web-server application. Like the other LAMP components, Linux is free open-source software which means the source code is provided with operating system, which can be edited according to specific needs.
- Apache – Apache is a free software/open source web server, the most popular in use.
- MySQL – MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS) with more than eleven million installations.
- PHP – PHP is an Object Oriented programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is used mainly in server-side application software. Since PHP is a standard Apache module, it is easy to deploy LAMP web applications by uploading .php files to an Apache server and connecting to a MySQL database.
There are variants of LAMP available, like WAMP (Windows based) and MAMP (Mac based) which can be used as an alternative to LAMP when the hosting OS is other than Linux.
Open Source Web CMS Applications
There are a number of Web CMS applications available today both commercially and free under Open Source. Since the Open Source applications are can be easily acquired and implemented and enjoy a huge support base, they are more popular than the commercial CMS applications available. These are generally developed using PHP and MySQL and designed to run on LAMP, WAMP, MAMP and other variant stacks. The most popular of these are listed below:
- MediaWiki — wiki server software, the software that runs Wikipedia
- Joomla — content management system
- Drupal — content management system
- TYPO3 — content management system
- WordPress — the most popular blog software and content management system
- Moodle — course management system or virtual learning environment
- osCommerce — ecommerce CMS
- Zen Cart — ecommerce CMS
- X-Cart — ecommerce CMS
These are very robust applications that can perform a lot of functions via the built-in options or third party plug-ins. They also include pre-packaged installers that help setup the application defaults and database very easily. There are a lot of common features of these popular packages. They provide powerful admin control panels to manage user permissions, layouts, navigation to very advanced details. These CMS packages also provide version control that enables the admin to roll back changes. An advantage of implementing these Open Source packages is that there are many third party extensions available that make up for the limitations of the original application. These can be very easily installed from the admin control panel along with a host of modules already packaged in the application.
Reload Web Endorses Open Source
We support Open Source development because we believe in some key principles: In an Open Source world, ideas can be freely exchanged and the collaboration it supports helps us build better products quickly. In other words we believe in the power of community where everyone is free to share ideas once they are on a common ground, share work and support each other. We at Reload Web, offer solutions based on these principles and build applications using Open Source software so that our customers enjoy the best products with the support of a global community without having to spend too much money.
