Open Source Database

What is an open source database?

An open source database is any database application with a codebase that is free to view, download, modify, distribute, and reuse. Open source licenses grant developers the freedom to develop new applications using existing database technologies.

What does the term open source refer to?

The term Open Source refers to how production and development practices allow access to the code with which software is written, enabling more transparent production, distribution, and operation.

This results in higher quality, reliability, and flexibility code, and they are generally free software supported by companies or volunteer developer communities, etc. It is believed that open source software allows for the development of higher quality software that is more open in its operation, and often this software ends up being better than paid software, which does not allow access to its operational code. These improvements arise from the fact that anyone around the world can make enhancements to the code, as they understand its operation and have access to its documentation.

 

How did the term originate?

The history of free and open source software, as we know it today, dates back to the early 1980s, a time when most software was proprietary and there was a need, on the part of some programmers, to create projects that would promote the creation of free software.

It is worth mentioning that earlier, when the first computers were born (and thus the first software programs), software had a cooperative development model, similar to that of other sciences like physics; this began to change in the 1960s and 1970s, when the first companies emerged that “privatized” their code.

It is important to note that free and open source software should not be confused with what is called “freeware”; free and open source software is usually free, which can lead to confusion. FOSS (an acronym in English for free and open source software) can also be bought and sold. The confusion is even greater in English-speaking countries due to the ambiguity of the word free, which means both freedom and no cost.

In 1997, Eric Raymond published "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", an essay in which he analyzes hacker culture and the principles of free software. The writing received particular attention in early 1998 and was a stimulating factor for Netscape Communications Corporation to release its popular internet suite Netscape Communicator as free software. This code is better known today as Firefox and Thunderbird.

This act by Netscape encouraged Raymond and others to seek how to bring the principles of free software to the commercial software industry. They concluded that the social activism of the FSF was not appealing to companies like Netscape and sought ways to reinvent the free software movement to emphasize the commercial potential of sharing source code.

The new name they chose was “open source,” and quickly Bruce Perens, editor Tim O’Reilly, Linus Torvalds, and others signed in favor of the new name. The Open Source Initiative was founded in February 1998 to promote the new term and disseminate the principles of “open source.”

However, Richard Stallman and the FSF strongly objected to the new organization’s approach. They felt that, with its narrow view of source code, the OSI was burying the philosophical and social values of free software and hiding the issue of computer users' freedom. Nevertheless, Stallman continued to maintain that users of both terms were allies against proprietary software.

In September 2000, Sun Microsystems released the StarOffice 5.2 office suite as free software under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. The free version of the suite was renamed OpenOffice.org (commonly abbreviated as “OOo”) and coexists with StarOffice; the 1.0 version of OpenOffice.org was released on April 30, 2002; the product and the open source code have coexisted since October 13, 2000.

 

Is there a difference between Open Source and Free Software?

It is important to distinguish Open Source from Free Software; each refers to different approaches and philosophies regarding software development. At this point, both are considered separate movements, but they can act together without any problem. They differ in that the Open Source movement considers that non-free software is a suboptimal solution, whereas in the case of free software, it considers that non-free software is a social problem for which the solution is free software. This aligns with the fact that the Open Source movement does not believe that the question of whether software should be open or not is an ethical question, as free software advocates do, but rather a practical one.

 

What is the difference between an open-source database and a closed-source database?

Closed-source databases are proprietary software. Accessing, modifying, distributing, or reusing the source code is not possible. You may need to pay a subscription or licensing fee to use the database within applications. The company that wrote the code maintains the codebase. This means you will have to wait for the company to add new features or fix any bugs in the database management system.

In contrast, anyone can view and access the source code of open-source databases. There are no licensing fees; therefore, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of open-source databases is lower than that of commercial databases. You can download and modify the source code to power your applications at no charge and without relying on a vendor. On the other hand, you are responsible for maintaining and securing your implementation of the open-source database.

 

Examples of such databases

Some of the most commonly used relational databases include:

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• MariaDB

Some of the most commonly used NoSQL databases include:

• MongoDB
• CouchDB
• Cassandra

 

How do open-source database management systems work?

Open-source database management systems provide an abstraction layer that developers can use to store information for organizations and their applications.

Generally, databases are categorized into two groups:

• Relational database: The traditional approach to data storage that uses key-value pairs to store structured data in tables consisting of columns and rows.
• NoSQL (non-relational) databases: Data stored through alternative data storage architectures, including document data storage, column-oriented databases, key-value storage, and graph databases. Non-relational databases are the preferred choice for handling unstructured data.

Database management systems offer the software layer you need to control and manage your data for different purposes. For example, you can store business intelligence in a relational database for quick SQL queries or save unstructured image files in a graph database for an AI-driven analytics application.

 

The trend of this database

Open-source databases are a growing segment of the global database management system market, but according to a new survey, users are working with multiple databases tailored for specific purposes and do not consider single databases as multipurpose.

A survey conducted in 2021 showed that about 92% of respondents said they are using multiple database technologies, and 89% use more than one open-source database platform. The study, conducted earlier this year, also found that cloud deployments are a growing trend, with over 50% running at least one workload in the public cloud.

While open source is a growing market segment, it is still small. It is estimated that only $261 million of the total DBMS market revenue of $46.1 billion in 2018 was attributable to vendors whose products are fully based on open-source DBMS. However, it was also noted that the scope and influence of open-source database software extend beyond its revenue. The surveyor stated: "We believe that paying customers represent only 1% to 5% of the actual user base of open-source software."

 

Why are they important for businesses?

Open-source databases position companies to capitalize more profitably on the large volumes of data generated in today's world.

Open-source database solutions help businesses implement a hybrid data environment that includes both relational and non-relational components. By providing a single view of data across the enterprise, these solutions offer a cost-effective way to integrate multiple and complex data sources for smarter, faster, data-driven decisions and actionable insights.