CIOL: How open source applications/tools have helped developers in your company to increase productivity?

KTS: Developer tools and libraries was one open source software area that gained a very high level of maturity. Being a software development company, it is highly crucial for developers to be high in productivity. High productivity translates into software delivery on time with no compromise in quality.

We leverage open source development tools like integrated development environments, compilers, debuggers, profilers, utility frameworks, etc. Our internal systems like corporate intranet, knowledge management system, learning management system, support ticketing system, etc are also powered by the enterprise-class open source software.

CIOL: How do you see the quality, capability and ease of open source systems as against proprietary software?

KTS: These factors have gone through a tremendous change over the last couple of years. However, the general perception is that proprietary software is better. It is, of course, not fair to generalize all open source software.

There are certain products that are equally capable as proprietary software in terms of quality, ease of use, documentation, support, etc. The flip side is that there is certain open source software that greatly lags behind with respect to these aspects.

Therefore, it is essential that these aspects be considered on a case-to-case basis. We would strongly recommend the customer to perform a thorough analysis in terms of the pros and cons of areas of interest and business goals before taking a decision.

CIOL: Being open source, do you feel that security is, more or less vulnerable?

KTS: The concept of security is yet again a slave to perception. This is due to the fact that enterprises believe that loopholes in security can be easily identified and exploited by hackers on the open source software. This is probably true to a certain extent.

But, in no way is it completely true. The open source community is extremely quick in plugging the security holes as soon as they are identified. We believe that by following best practices, the security vulnerabilities can be managed most effectively.

CIOL: How actively does THBS contribute to the number of open source communities and in what ways?

KTS: THBS partners with companies that develop open source software to offer professional services. We are active participants at user forums. We provide code snippets and help other community members with technical support.

We have been contributing to the development of the open source software itself by developing plug-ins, add-ons and improving open source software.