awareness
At ProcoliX, we often talk about open source, FOSS, open standards and freedom. But what do we actually mean by that and why do we think it's so important?
In short: by using open software and open standards, you stay independent. Independent from vendors and their licenses, independent from cloud providers and their privacy policies and independent from 'the market'.
Photo by Donovan Kelly via Pexels
With open software, you get access to the source code (more on that below). With closed software, you don't. For example, the source code of LibreOffice (an alternative to Microsoft Office 365) is freely available. The source code of Office 365 is not.
An open standard is a publicly available set of rules and agreements. These define things like how data is stored, how programs communicate with each other or how information is encrypted.
For example, the OpenDocument standard defines formats for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other common file types. These formats are supported by tools like LibreOffice and Office 365.
By using open standards, you're not tied to one specific piece of software. You can choose any program that supports that standard
Compare that to formats like .doc and .docx from Microsoft Word. These are controlled by Microsoft, which means you're dependent on their software. If support for those formats ever stops, you may no longer be able to open your own files.
Software is written in programming languages: code that tells a computer exactly what to do. But computers can't directly understand this code. It first needs to be translated into machine language. This process is called compiling. The compiled version is what the computer runs, but it's not readable for humans. The source code, however, is like a blueprint. It shows exactly how the software works and allows people to modify it.
Most people who use software will never look at source code and that's completely fine. Still, the fact that it's publicly available has major benefits. Because many more people can view and work on the code, bugs are usually found earlier and fixed faster than in closed software, especially when it comes to security issues.
“Open source software benefits from the speed of the community. As soon as a vulnerability is discovered, a larger group of developers can almost immediately start working on a solution. In practice, this has led to situations where critical issues were resolved within hours or days” (Hoeffnagel, 2025)
Using open software and open standards gives you freedom and independence. You're no longer tied to a vendor that might raise prices or introduce unfavorable conditions. You're also free to collaborate with others, even if they use different software.
In an open world, there is no vendor lock-in, but the benefits of openness go far beyond that. Eric S. Raymond explains in his book The Cathedral and the Bazaar (available to read online for free, also available for purchase as a book) that shared knowledge benefits all of humanity. In contrast, knowledge kept as a ‘company secret’ only benefits a small group. Open standards and open source contribute to a better world for everyone, while closed alternatives mainly benefit a limited number of stakeholders.
In a world where inequality is growing and freedoms are under pressure, choosing 'open' should be an important consideration when selecting software and hosting.
“You pay, so you decide”, it's up to you: invest in your own freedom and independence or contribute to profits that mainly benefit executives and shareholders.