THE FUTURE oF TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

The future of technology and software development lies in open source solutions. If you look closely, you’ll find that these high-tech tools are powering countless new hardware and software innovations by making application source code freely available for distribution and modification. But while they provide more flexible, cost-affordable, and convenient ways to build custom high-tech solutions, it bears noting. Like any piece of modern-day software, all also require constant safeguarding and oversight.

Noting this, IT and business leaders should therefore keep in mind three key areas of risk when adopting open source solutions: Software vulnerabilities, license violations, and variable feature sets. After all, as with any software product, while many open source components can be extremely robust, many also contain glitches and loopholes that hackers can exploit. Furthermore, open source tools are additionally governed by licenses that place legal guidelines on how they can be utilized.  Because of their pervasiveness though, it’s not uncommon for open source solutions to filter into your development pipeline – often unknowingly. Just as often, these tools (and any software bugs) may likewise proliferate across numerous other products, making them a high-profile target for cybercriminals.

Luckily, artificially intelligent tools can now help. For example, those that provide software composition analysis solutions and open source audits offer a more convenient and comprehensive approach to open source management. Using them, it’s possible to track where open source code appears in your IT systems and software code, track potential security or license issues, and offset risks. What’s more, they can also automatically ensure compliance amongst open source policies amongst DevOps teams, tools, and processes as well, ensuring that you can future-proof your business against open source discrepancies. 

Clearly, open source solutions provide a powerful tool for business growth and innovation, which has made them a go-to resource for countless software development teams and market leaders. But like any software tool, they’ve also got to be monitored and checked for discrepancies as you go, if you want to maintain uptime, security, and privacy in your operations.