Why use Open Source Software? Buying proprietary software, such as that published by Microsoft or Adobe, one has no access to the source code, (the nuts and bolts of the application): It works the way that it works, and you pay for that functionality exactly as it is, with no recourse for changes or customization.
Only someone who has access to the source code can fix a bug, add a feature, or provide an update. If that company were to go out of business, or simply chose to discontinue the product - new versions would cease to be produced, and over time your investment would become worthless.
Open Source software is different: Open Source developers make a point to release the source code (the raw, human-readable instructions that tell the computer how to create the application) along with their applications. As esoteric as this might seem to the consumer, it has specific advantages. The source code can be downloaded for free, modified, fixed, extended and configured - to exactly fit the requirements of the user. If the original developer were to cease development for any reason, the users can continue to have the code updated, either by themselves or by any competent developer.
Open Source has been around for decades. There are thousands of Open Source applications, (often called projects), available online. Many of these projects have been around for years, are used by hundreds of thousands of people, and are as mature and stable (if not more so) than your average proprietary software product.
Of course the very nature of the Open Source community ensures diversity in these Open Source offerings. Many of these projects are technical components, and tools; a large number of projects are in pre-release stages of development, others are simply unprofessional, or trivial.
Seeking to select and deploy Open Source applications for your own use, you must have a technical understanding of what makes good, updatable code, a familiarity with the multitude of projects on offer, a good sense of what functionality might be required in any given context, and of what functionality is within the bounds of technical and financial possibility.
These are among the core competencies of Sidra Technologies. Identifying your needs and matching them to existing Open Source projects, customizing those project as necessary and deploying them either on your own computers, or hosting them for you.