Will open source make a dead end to web developers?

Question

I see the open source usage is rising very quickly in the field of web development
many so called web development companies do nothing than installing an open source script just like joomla, drupal, word press, etc .. and just configuring it and selling it as their own developed software

this make the real web developers hard to compete cause open source CMS are full of feature can't be developed easily

and the real custom web development is declining

is this the end of real web programming and development?

Answer 1

No. Joomla, Drupal, RoR, Miva, Dreamweaver, Wordpress and so-on are for amateurs who don't know (and don't want to learn) how to code properly. SERIOUS clients want serious coding, not 30 Mb of crap code no-one understands, full of features they don't use.

As far as "developing easily", I tend to disagree: it takes a LONG time to master these open source, as long as to learn to code in php, and a professional will have, after a while, hundreds of small "modules" or "functions" that can be re-used over and over again, so developing a new applications is a matter of adapting what has already been written (and is well understood), and adding a little extra!

Finally, superficial clients who demand to have a CMS, soon realise that using the CMS is pretty hard as well... and after a short time, stop using it.

I have removed these from sites quite a few times, providing clean, easy maintainable sites.

If anything, we will get business in REMOVING these open sources!!

Answer 2

I personally don't believe that open source software will lead to the death of web development. Rather, I think it creates a prime opportunity for web developers to expand their skills.



Both "off-the-shelf" web software and custom-coded web projects both have their own purposes. Custom projects that are coded from scratch, or near scratch on a framework, are great for end products that are unique or require an extreme degree of customization. Web applications like Mint and Meebo are two good examples of this.



However, lots of the time, you're doing something simple, like a bunch of web pages or a blog. In this case, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. By using an open-source off-the-shelf product, a lot of the basic components of such a project, like adding and managing posts, are implemented for you.



Personally, I've become a fan of the WordPress platform. It's a quick way to get a web project up on its feet, content can be easily changed later, and it allows for an impressive degree of customization. Seriously... if you're willing to dig in, you can pull off some pretty impressive stuff.



But you're not going to get any impressive results out of WordPress - or any other CMS - unless you've got some web development experience under your belt. I started off years ago in HTML, then moved my way through CSS, JavaScript, then PHP/MySQL. These are the tools that provide a proper footing in creating content for the web that you need to know before you can grow into more advanced development.



Now, marketing someone else's open-source product as your own and not providing proper attribution is pretty darn shady, and I'm pretty sure it's against the GPLs that most open-source projects release under.



Anyway, that's my two cents on the issue.

Answer 3

Why developers should reinvent wheel, when open source exists? Open Source Development is for the good of the community where all developers work on free software for public. Web Developers still need to work on customising the pro sits, role is there.

Answer 4

Look, if you are an IT manager you can blame Microsoft products when you fail to include every feature the client or bosses want.



OSS lets you try additional features if you have the knowledge, plus OSS installs in 1/10 the time of MS products.



You have to know both. You don't march into an academic environment and DEMAND everybody change over to MS. Same way at a corporate install, you don't start whining that OpenOffice is free and MSOffice costs money for every install.



What I'm hearing is IT managers are getting fed up with all the hardware updates it takes to run Microsoft.

Answer 5

No, there is plenty of room for all! Not everyone uses open source (or even understands it). Most users just want to turn on their computer and use it, they are not interested on what is happening under the hood! Many companies offer their programmes free for home use and make their money on support especially corporate support for businesses.



Personally, I think that open source will have a good effect on IT in general.

Answer 6

no , open source only provide programmer to customize the code and provied some better than earlier software, so the new software will be more user friendly and more functioning

Answer 7

Did Linux and Apache put an end to Windows and IIS?

Answer 8

I know that AJAX is actually JavaScript and XML combined and that for web developing, i think that one is the more popular one. that all I know