1. Don’t reinvent the wheel
2. Don’t leave your client out to dry

Based on these principles, we have dedicated ourselves to finding well-built, reputable third party products that can be modified to fit our clients’ specific needs. In doing so, we enable both our clients and ourselves to have a built-in support system of other developers, programmers, software engineers and marketers – all the while keeping your total cost of development and testing at an affordable level.

Specifically, whenever possible we prefer to use Open Source software. In our experience, we have determined that there are numerous advantages to the use of open source products, many of which are directly contradictory to popular opinion:

Myth: Open Source products don't come with support.

Fact: Open Source products are often supported better and more quickly than commercial products.

We have found that open source products typically have a vast and enthusiastic built-in support system made of developers, end-users and consultants. Bugs and conflicts arise in almost all electronic products. In the case of commercial software, a bug release (or "fix" or "patch") would only be released at the manufacturer's discretion. Often, that means "only when enough people have complained about it."

The open source community however, being largely made up of independent developers, responds quickly to bug fixes - often before they are even widely discovered. Think of this in simple terms: would you prefer to have 10 software developers working on your products sporadically, or thousands working across the globe at all hours?

Myth: Open Source products don't release new features often.

Fact: Open Source products have a near constant release of new features and modifications.

Think back to our "thousands of developers" example above. Each of these developers represents several end users, many of whom had some unique need that had to be met. For example, we ran across a post in the developer community where someone was asking about utilizing a certain content management system for a school. Sure enough, within 48 hours many developers had responded in the forum about modifications and plug-in features they had created that could be adapted for school use. Only because the developers had access to the source code of the product (hence, "Open Source") was this a possibility.

This brings up another important consideration about Open Source. It is generally accepted in the OS community that when you make use of "free" software, and you make modifcations or improvements that would be of use to others, you are expected to release those improvements to the rest of the community. Consequently:

Open Source = More Features = Customization = 24/7 Support

Consider an Open Source solution for your next project. We think you'll find that many of these products are not only cheaper, but also better. A nice combination!