The term open-source was penned by Christine Peterson sometime in the late 90s to describe what was basically free software with openly available source code. Eric Raymond, Bruce Perens, Michael Tiemann, and Jon Hall were some of the key champions of free software.

Opensource.com has a great piece about the key milestones of the open-source history. Until the rise of Linux which was quite different from any other OS that existed concurrently, open-source usage was still considered fringe. Today open source has become quite mainstream, especially for the folks who do not mind getting their hands dirty with a steep learning curve. From LibreOffice which is an open-source office suite like MS office(shhh!! don’t tell Microsoft) to VLC which can virtually play any video format, open-source is almost everywhere. You can checkout out some of the other daily use open-source software here.

R – An Open-Source Language

While the list of open-source programs for day-to-day use is getting longer, let’s dive a little deep into what is happening on the analytics front. No conversation about open-source analytics can be started without talking about R, just a little bit of trivia for you- the R in the name stands for the initials of both founders Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman.

Being an open-source programming language R allows users across the globe to create packages that can be used by anyone. R packages are a compilation of R functions, compiled codes, and data samples. R as default comes with a set of packages and a wide range of packages are available for specific use cases.

At Gigrich we are absolutely in love with R, one for the power that it gives to the users and two for R’s product philosophy. Managed by a core group of analysts and statisticians R is user-friendly due to its relatively simpler learning curve. It does not have point and clicks features but the possibilities are limitless.

The next open-source technology that we are big fans of is Python, deriving its name from Monty Python and the flying circus. Python was started as a hobby project by Guido Van Rossum to keep him occupied during Christmas. We love Python for the length and breadth of its use and while it has a learning curve there is a wide range of training and support content available.

Get started with Python and you will see how much fun you can have with it. Python allows you to visualize, break down, and work with a wide variety of data if you are ok to roll up your sleeves and spend time doing cool stuff. Technology is the truest form of democracy due to the wide range of technologies that you can use for free and great stuff can be created if you just translate your imagination into code.

We love all things open source not because it’s free but because it allows us to build on the great work done by so many pioneers and champions of technology. We strongly believe that technology, analytics, and stats can benefit from crowd-sourcing intelligence. Together we can build technologies and analytics for a better world.