Using User Generated Code To Deliver Your Message

Some people say its not the tech that matters, its the message. And that is true, to a degree.

Web sites today commonly resemble full-blown web applications in sophistication and complexity. Anyone who is charged with the maintenance and development of new features and functionality understands that the underlying technology certainly plays a significant role in how responsive you can be to market demands and how expensive it is to respond and maintain.

So, when it comes to choosing a technology to deliver your message, I put my faith in open source.

To a developer, open source is the ultimate user generated content (UGC), or should I say user generated code. Just as we see the Internet being enriched and becoming a living, breathing thing, open source provides the same breath of fresh air to the global software development community.

Looking for a rock solid security framework? So have hundreds of thousands of others in the community, many of which are more specialized in security than anyone on your team. Odds are "they" have built something and offered it up to the community, free, for you to download and customize to your needs.

Looking for a presentation framework to deliver engaging interfaces that act predictably with performance. Yep, someone else in the world has too. And if you choose the right one, you will receive free updates and enhancements from the community, free.

Looking for a rock solid operating system? Well, we know how that story goes... ;)

Don't get me wrong. I deliver solutions for my clients built on the technology that makes the most since for them. If someone has a team of Microsoft .NET developers and Microsoft infrastructure, it absolutely makes since to use technology that will leverage their existing investments in equipment and people. But if the slate is relatively clean, and there is no significant investment in a technology strategy, I embrace the community in open source.