The economy of free and open source software in the preservation of digital artefacts

Purpose – Free and open source software (FOSS) brings many benefits to digital preservation; however it is not “free”. If the context in which free and open source software tools are created and employed is examined, it becomes clear that: the sustainability of any software (FOSS, custom or commercial) to ensure the preservation of the digital heritage will depend on careful assessment of, and provision for, the costs (implicit and explicit) entailed in the production and continued employment of these tools. The purpose of this paper is to focus on FOSS and archiving of the digital heritage.Design/methodology/approach – Portico, a not‐for‐profit digital preservation service, explores the costs of FOSS based on its experiences as a working archive with an extremely long time horizon.Findings – There are considerable benefits to FOSS, including its openness and the broad‐based testing of it in real‐world situations. FOSS tools can provide considerable cost savings over proprietary tools. However, FOSS is ne...

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