Back in 1946, my mother-in-law went to a radio station in Elmira, New York, to record her vocal renditions of two Christmas songs. State-of-the-art technology in 1946 was vinyl recording, and she recently came across her 78 RPM record during a house-cleaning episode. This record was then passed on to me with the expectation of my translating the songs into MP3 files as well as producing a CD.

"No problem," I thought, "there are plenty of USB-based turntables out there." And indeed, there are. The problem is these turntables operate only at 45 RPM and 33 1/3 RPM. What was I to do with the 78 RPM record? After I did a little online research, I found the answer: an open-source program named Audacity, which lets you translate a recording from one speed to another.

With this knowledge in hand, I purchased a USB turntable for under $100 and downloaded the Audacity software for free. Before I turned to Audacity, I used the proprietary software included with the turntable. It was awful. I'm not sure who the target audience for the software was, but it wasn't me. The software offered few controls or options and was a major pain to use.

Then I launched the Audacity software. I was completely blown away by this product. Not only did it let me record at 33 1/3 RPM and translate to 78 RPM, it also let me remove every pop, crack, and hiss you would expect to find on a 63-year-old vinyl recording.

My bad experience with the commercial turntable software and my good experience with Audacity led me to reflect on the current status of open-source software in our industry. When the concept of open source gained traction a few years ago, it held the promise of disrupting the status quo of commercial software. But has it achieved this effect? Let's look at the pluses and minuses.

Hot: More Choice

Audacity is just one tiny example of the current generation of powerful open-source products. Today's line-up includes the Linux OS, the Apache web server, the MySQL database management system, the OpenOffice office productivity suite, and more. Without question, open-source products have found their way into production environments, giving individuals and organizations new choices for both new and old problems.

Beyond choice, open-source products have forced many commercial software vendors to innovate in order to remain competitive. As a result, even if you choose (or are forced) to use a commercial software product, you're likely seeing innovation driven by competition with open-source alternatives.

Good products, more choice, and more competition all make open source "hot."

Not Hot: Freedom Is Just Another Word

One of the promises that open source has been unable to deliver on is that of changing the pricing model of the software industry. Many people believed that open source would drive excess cost out of the software industry, letting individuals and organizations reduce software spending and reinvest that money in other areas. In short, open source held the promise of "free" commercial-grade software.

What actually happened was that costs moved from licensing to support. Sure you can download just about any open-source product and use it for free. But if something goes wrong—if you need support—that's going to cost you (in terms of staff time or a support contract). As a result, the TCO for many open-source products is nearly equivalent to the TCO for their commercial counterparts; you simply end up spending the money differently.

I'm not against capitalism. I believe vendors and individuals have an inherent right to make money. However, the current approach used by many open-source vendors effectively negates any TCO advantage of open-source products over commercial products—and that's "not hot."

Sean Chandler is a computer and network consultant with more than 30 years of field experience. Astro, a border collie with more than 40 dog years of data processing experience, provides technical support to his master, Sean.

Astro's Pick of the Litter

As part of translating the 1946 vinyl record to MP3 and WAV formats (the latter to produce a CD), my master ended up using several new technologies. First was the ION TTUSB05 USB turntable. I can report that he found this device easy to install and operate. His only complaint seemed to be with the bundled software—once he moved over to Audacity, he was happy. The other technology he used for the first time (even though he's had it for years) was the LightScribe capability in his DVD/CD writer. This technology uses lasers to "etch" labels and images directly on compatible CDs and DVDs. Although he wasn't thrilled with the cost of the special media, he was thrilled with the results. Anyone with a LightScribe writer should try it at least once!

—Astro