{"id":2816,"date":"2026-10-08T21:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abilit.eu\/?page_id=2816"},"modified":"2026-10-09T18:13:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T16:13:03","slug":"why-an-opensource-scada","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/abilit.eu\/index.php\/home\/why-an-opensource-scada\/","title":{"rendered":"Why an OpenSource Scada ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why an “OpenSource” ?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

SCADA-LTS is more than just \u00ab OpenSource software \u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a \u00ab FreeSoftware<\/strong> \u00bb often referred to as \u00ab Libre Software<\/strong>\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference ?<\/a> It’s a matter of liberty, not price<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Open Source Initiative<\/strong><\/a> is, at the origin (1998), a backlash from the proprietary software industry in response to the spectacular success of the GNU<\/strong><\/a>\/Free Software movement<\/strong><\/a>, aimed at regaining control of the software market. The concept of “OpenSource<\/strong><\/a>” was introduced by the OSI<\/a><\/strong> in an attempt to marginalise the FSF<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s concept of “Free Software<\/strong><\/a>” \u2013 a concept based on a humanist philosophy and vision<\/a><\/strong> of software, aimed at protection of users\u2019 rights more than just code availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FreeSoftware<\/a><\/strong> is a much earlier movement, defined and protected by the Free Software Foundation<\/strong><\/a> (since 1985). They created the GNU operating system<\/strong><\/a>, the GPL<\/strong><\/a> (the most used FreeSoftware license).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two worlds are at conflict with each other. They share the same outcome \u2013 the provision of source code \u2013 but not for the same reasons, nor with exactly the same objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scada-LTS<\/a><\/strong> is published under the GPL<\/strong><\/a>, the famous license promoted by the Free Software Foundation<\/strong><\/a>, and so is a pure FreeSoftware<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to gather all the softwares belonging to both world, the “FOSS<\/a><\/strong>” term is sometimes used, standing for “Free\/OpenSource Software”, even sometimes “FLOSS” can be found, for “Free\/Libre OpenSource Software”. Indeed, the early choice of “Free” by the FSF\/GNU movement may be seen as unlucky, as “Free”, in English, may mean “Gratis” but also “Freedom”. FreeSoftware may be confused with Free Software (so gratis) or even Freewares<\/a><\/strong>, which are totally different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free Software Foundation explains this as: “Free software is a matter of liberty, not price<\/em>“. You may also hear sometimes that FreeSoftwares are “Free as a speach, not free as a beer<\/em>“, meaning that the point is the freedoms, not the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, in order to get a high quality well maintained, well documented software, there is a price to pay. It is not a license price<\/strong>: you don’t have to pay to get a limited right to run the software. It can be in the form of a donation, a support, a contribution (development, documentation, porting effort), … This is why we ask you to purchase a maintenance contract<\/strong><\/a>, if you are intended to use the Scada-LTS<\/strong><\/a> a professional way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advantages of a FOSS ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Security<\/strong>: you can check for backdoors.
Who remembers that all the US proprietary software vendors placed backdoors in their software at first US government request ? (PRISM scandal<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source-code quality<\/strong>: as the source code is available, you can check it out. However, many proprietary software applications are not made available as source code, even once they are no longer being marketed, because the publisher does not wish to reveal their very poor code quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintainability<\/strong>: if the software publisher were to cease trading, the software could still continue to be maintained, either by the community, by a major user such as a government or an international organisation, or by a consortium comprising both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficiency<\/strong>: thanks to higher-quality code and reviews carried out by numerous developers from the user community, FOSS performs on average 30% better than its proprietary equivalents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adaptability<\/strong>: as the code is open, it is possible to modify it in any way, add extensions or new features, without having to wait for the publisher of proprietary software to take users\u2019 requests for such changes into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick security patches<\/strong>: as the source code is freely available, the community of developers and users can scrutinise it to detect any potential security vulnerabilities, enabling security patches to be developed; these are usually released even before a method of exploiting the vulnerability becomes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And all the other classical advantages of FOSS…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Scada-LTS is not limited<\/strong>
to these aspects<\/strong>
related to the source code. <\/strong>
It is a truly open Scada solution.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n