OUR OPEN SOURCE PHILOSOPHY

Open source: Balancing freedom, innovation, and corporate stability

At ULX, we have believed for 25 years that transparency and accessibility of software source code is the key to IT independence. In the world of open source software (OSS), power lies in the hands of the user, and innovation is born not in the closed laboratories of a single company, but through the collaboration of a global community.

What is the true essence of open source?

The essence of open source code is not "free of charge," but freedom. This freedom provides users with four fundamental rights:

  1. Freedom of use: The software can be run for any purpose.

  2. Freedom to study: The source code is accessible, so we can understand how the system works (there are no hidden features or security vulnerabilities).

  3. Freedom to modify: The software can be customized to meet specific business needs.

  4. Freedom to distribute: Improvements and developments can be shared with others, thus making knowledge public property.

This model eliminates the phenomenon of vendor lock-in. Users are no longer hostage to a single software vendor: they have the right and opportunity to decide who to buy support from or who to build their system with.

How does open source promote innovation?

The development speed of closed (proprietary) software is limited by the manufacturer's budget and the number of engineers. In contrast, open source projects (such as the Linux kernel or Kubernetes) are backed by tens of thousands of developers from all over the world.

When a solution to a global problem is found, it is incorporated into the code in a matter of moments. This constant, "many eyes see more" type of professional control makes open source software the most innovative and secure technologies. Today, it is no longer open source that follows closed systems, but the other way around: cloud, artificial intelligence, and big data solutions are almost without exception born on open foundations.

From project to product: The path to enterprise "quality"

It is important to distinguish between a project developed by an enthusiastic community (Community project) and a product with the quality and functionality expected by large companies (Enterprise product). ULX's philosophy is that customers and large companies need the latter most (but not at any price).

Community projects (such as Fedora or "vanilla" PostgreSQL) are the crucibles of innovation. This is where new features first appear, but these versions change frequently, have a short life cycle, and come with no warranty or central accountability.

What is Enterprise Open Source?

The process of turning a community project into enterprise software is all about stability and trust. Take the Red Hat model, for example:

  1. Selection and testing: The manufacturer selects the most promising community projects and subjects them to thousands of hours of rigorous quality assurance (QA) testing.

  2. Hardware and software certification: The manufacturer guarantees that the software runs stably on hardware from leading server manufacturers and is compatible with other enterprise applications.

  3. Long life cycle and security: While community projects often have a very short life cycle, enterprise software (such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux) comes with up to 10 years of support and backporting from the manufacturer.

  4. Legal guarantee: The manufacturer assumes responsibility for the intellectual property rights of the code, protecting the customer from legal risks.