Legacy modernization: Open Source Software as an Alternative?

If you are searching about legacy migration you might have heard about legacy modernization to open source software (also known as OSS). So have you ever wondered if this would be a reasonable step to take? Maybe you need some more information about open source, first.

Open-source software is the kind of software that provides its source code open to public, so that anyone is able to copy, modify and redistribute it without paying royalties or fees. The code can evolve through community cooperation. Often someone who started an open-source project ends up as a large company. Many producers of OSS offer trainings or Service-level-agreements (SLAs), which is a part of a service contract where a service is formally defined.

Examples of open-source software products are the web-browser Mozilla Firefox and the operating system Linux. The expectation by switching to OSS is most of the times to save money – and it is true: Such products are most of the times for free or really cheap implemented, why license costs can be saved. Nevertheless, adoptions and extensions might be necessary, as well as trainings and other external services. So license costs should not be the only reason to switch to OSS without further investigations.

Other relevant topics when thinking about implementing OSS in a company would be the data privacy and IT security. A lot of questions need to be answered here: Where and how will data be saved or shared and how could the systems be controlled? Might there be a possibility for developers to control the system unnoticed and grab data out of it? All those questions regarding security topics should be verified by experts.

So as you can see: It is not always easy to decide, which software to switch to due to cost reduction or due to just modernize your systems. But don't worry: We will keep on writing about legacy modernization, legacy migration or whatever you want to call it. Please stay tuned and feel free to leave a comment!