Why Open Source Matters?

When I got my first laptop for college, it came with a licensed copy of Windows 10 that cost an extra 10,000 INR. Many of my classmates switched to Linux because it was an important skill to have on your resume for job placements. However, I stuck with Windows since I had paid extra for it and was worried something might go wrong if I tried to switch operating systems or partition the hard drive. The concept of open source software was first introduced to me by my mentor when we used CertBot to generate a free SSL certificate for a project website, instead of paying for one from a cloud vendor.

Open source is an approach where the software is developed and maintained by a community, for the benefit of everyone. In a true open source project, the entire codebase and all ongoing improvements and discussions are publicly accessible. Anyone can contribute to the project's progress and use it for education, personal projects, commercial services, or as inspiration for something better, without any fees or licensing restrictions. Open source is a driving force behind innovation in the software and IT industry. Projects like Linux, React, JavaScript, Firefox, and WordPress demonstrate how open source creates thriving ecosystems that benefit both users and developers. Even Apple's Mac OS and Sony's Nintendo systems are based on FreeBSD, an open source operating system built on Linux.

Nowadays, being open source or supporting open source has become a market trend, similar to how being eco-friendly and plastic-free has been a brand marketing trend. However, corporate initiatives are not always driven by genuine concern for the cause but rather by a desire for quick marketing gains, brand reputation, popularity, and ecosystem monopoly. Microsoft's acquisitions of open source organizations like GitHub and Citus Data are examples of their contribution to the open source community.

Google acquired Android, originally an open source project, in 2005, promising to keep it free and open to developers. However, over time, Google began adding its own proprietary apps and services, such as the Google Play Store, which became essential for most Android devices. This shift gave Google control over the Android ecosystem, limiting developers' and manufacturers' freedom. As a result, innovation slowed down as the platform became less open, and concerns about data privacy arose due to fewer alternatives. In 2020, Google announced that all apps offering in-app purchases must use its billing system, which charges a commission of up to 30%. This move sparked outrage among Indian developers, as it would significantly cut into their earnings, especially for smaller businesses and startups. Currently, Android doesn't even allow apps to be downloaded outside the Play Store as a security measure. NeuronX is heavily focusing on the PWA ecosystem as an open alternative to this power abuse.

Microsoft recently announced a Recall feature for Windows 11 that takes screenshots of the PC every few seconds. With the already complicated system configurations and files in Windows, coupled with automatic updates every other day, screen freezing and laptop slowdowns were constant hindrances to work. The directories get filled with files and folders that users don't even have permission to access. I finally discarded the original Windows from my laptop and switched to Linux Mint Cinnamon - a lightweight, fully customizable, open source operating system based on Ubuntu. I regret not having done this earlier, wasting time on Windows updates and freezes.

AWS is one of the top cloud service providers, but Amazon developers are not allowed to use AWS systems or services in any of their products. They are expected to handle everything from scratch, suggesting a lack of trust in their own products for internal use. In contrast, NeuronX offers the same AI solutions that we use for our own projects. Our RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) system was previously based on MongoDB Vector Search, as we were already working with MongoDB and the vector database schemelessly integrated into the workflow. After extensive market research, our R&D team decided to shift to Postgres pgvector - an open source project with an active community of developers and companies like Supabase actively contributing to its progress. PostgreSQL has consistently outperformed MongoDB in various benchmarks, with pgvector being 4 to 15 times faster than MongoDB for vector search queries. Recent updates to pgvector have introduced advanced indexing methods like HNSW (Hierarchical Navigable Small World) graphs, significantly enhancing search speed and accuracy.

NeuronX is actively working on using and maintaining open source alternatives and contributing improvements back to the community instead of relying on closed source technology. With the entire ecosystem coming together to build upon open source projects, technological innovation and progress will happen at a much faster rate than we can anticipate.

References

1. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5dhaQm_J6U
2. 2. https://certbot.eff.org/
3. 3. https://www.business-standard.com/companies/start-ups/startups-urge-restoration-of-apps-on-play-store-to-pre-delisting-state-124030401067_1.html
4. 4. https://linuxmint.com/
5. 5. https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector
6. 6. https://supabase.com/
7. 7. https://myscale.com/blog/pgvector-vs-mongodb-comprehensive-performance-analysis/
8. 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKHzcXwTdB4