Q and A on Penny Auction Software #21

Q. Is your penny auction software open source?

A. There are many important open source software packages on the market today, each serving a purpose. For example:

• Website content management software (Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, etc);
• e-shop software (Magento);
• CRM software (Sugar);
• Office software (Open Office);
• Forums and blogs (Wordpress, PHPBulletinBoard, etc)
• Internet-server management software (Linux, Apache);
• Database management software (MySQL, Ingres, PostgreSQL).

If you start to search for open source software for important commercial applications, for example banking or payday loans, then it is impossible to find open source or FOSS (free and open source) software.

The reason is very simple – security.
Softmedia has more than 70 installations of its penny auction software.  If the program code is open, then a skilled programmer can easily find how financial transactions are organized and how interactions with payment gateways are encrypted.  So, such application will be much more open to abuse, than an application with a regular license.