There is a conversation I have over and over again.
Someone asks whether we also work with “real software” — meaning proprietary products from major vendors. The question always carries the same subtext: open source is for tinkerers, idealists, people with lots of time and little money.
I disagree, politely. And then I explain what is actually happening.
The misconception about quality
The most common misconception is that quality and openness are mutually exclusive. Those who pay get better software. Those who get it for free get less.
Let’s look at the foundation of the modern internet. The web servers that today answer billions of requests worldwide — nginx, Apache — are open source. The operating system running on the vast majority of all servers in the world — Linux — is open source. The databases on which banks, hospitals and government agencies store their most critical data — PostgreSQL, MariaDB — are open source.
That is not idealism. That is the backbone of the digital world.
What open code really means
When someone hands me a machine running proprietary software, I can see what that software does — but not why. I can observe the behaviour, but not understand the decision logic. I can call the vendor — and wait for a ticket to be processed.
When that machine runs open source software, I can read the source code. I can trace errors. I can apply patches before the vendor even knows about a problem. And I can adapt the system when requirements change — without waiting for licensing requests or product cycles.
That is not an academic argument. That is the difference between an infrastructure I know and one I merely inhabit.
The community argument
Another aspect often overlooked: behind major open source software stands not a single company, but a worldwide community of developers, administrators, security researchers and users.
When a security problem is discovered in a widely-used open source library, hundreds of people work to understand and fix it — publicly, traceably, documented.
With proprietary software, you wait for the next patch Tuesday.
What this means for your infrastructure
I do not categorically advise against using proprietary tools in appropriate scenarios. There are cases where it makes sense.
But I strongly advise understanding your own infrastructure. Knowing what software runs, why it runs, and what happens if the vendor doubles their licensing prices or discontinues the product.
Systems you understand can be defended. Systems you merely operate cannot.
Open source is not the result of an attitude. It is the result of a decision that proves itself daily in production criticality, availability and maintainability.
That has always been the case. It just gets forgotten sometimes.