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'Open Source Software' is free or at least very cheap in certain occasions. It is being improved continually and is as good as the well known normal software' (or professionally developed software'). But does the publicly available source code, that allows this type of software to be enhanced quickly, make it less secure.
Microsoft argued that is does when a part of their operating system NT 4.0 leaked out to the public. However, we must understand that Microsoft never wants to release its source code for any applications, so it is obvious that they would take that stance. They say it makes the software less secure because hackers can analyze the code to find errors, therefore places for viruses to sneak through; others say that the source code availability allows people to fix the bugs and errors faster then the professionals working for a company.

This seems to be a paradox; still, both sides make a good point. Even though allot of companies do not release their programs' source codes; they have not been spared by unwanted intrusions such as viruses or worms. In fact, statistically, Open Source Software is safer, as fewer viruses were created for it; therefore, fewer errors were found. Also, this could be interpreted as: fewer people tried to find errors in the software, even though they had the source code. We do not however know if hackers target hidden code software applications because for example, they present a bigger difficulty, or maybe because they want to prove to companies that hiding the code doesn't change anything. This is all possible, but until we know for sure, nothing is relevant.

So Open Source Software might be considered less secure, however, facts tend to show otherwise. Open Source Software is redistributable, changeable and free, and security does not seem to be a disadvantage either. As less people use OSS it is not the main target of attacks by hackers, but commercial software is.

Instead, some Open Source Software applications have a less friendly user-interface, generally the open source' operating systems. The interface may be totally different than what you are used to (in some cases). This means that you need a higher IT knowledge that the average user, but then again, knowledge never hurt you, especially if you can save some money.

It is all relative, so you can extract your own beliefs about open source software' from the discussion above.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Bucur.
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