There is a lot of talk about whether proprietary software is more secure than open source software. Often, the proponents of proprietary software suggest that if the programming code is open, then any malicious hacker can figure out what makes the software tick and interfere with, or even steal sensitive data.

This is a surface analysis used by those who are still stuck in the shrink wrapped software days that made companies such as Microsoft wildly successful. Those days are quite possibly over or at the least, not at all what they were.

Open source and social community upsets advocates of closed and proprietary code because not unlike the issues typically presented by mass social availability (imagine the reduced size of Twitter and Facebook if they were NOT free) immediate profits of proprietary code developers are reduced.

Simply...the answer is NOW.

I'm not just saying that because I run a web development company. As we quickly approach not only the end of 2009, but the end to the first decade of this new century, profits are dropping in many industries thanks to our weakened economy. One of the first things companies do in this situation is cut Internet marketing and advertising budgets. In reality this is at the worst time and place to tighten the belt. Right now is the best time for a company to promote their product or service online.

The print media market is down significantly which means less competition for consumers' attention. Internet activity is at an all time high with 23.5% of the world's near 7 billion population now online. That's a global audience of nearly 1,574 million internet users! Not only are more people online than ever before but more people are using the Internet for finding products locally, shopping online and researching prices for major purchases.

"The internet is no longer a niche technology - it is mass media and an utterly integral part of modern life. As our lives become more fractured and cluttered, it isn't surprising that consumers turn to the unrivalled convenience of the Internet when it comes to researching and buying products."

Johnathan Carson, CEO, Nielsen Telecom at The Nielsen Company.

Also, new open source technologies have come out just in the last 2 years that make building a corporate quality website easy to do on a small business budget. Current research data from Neilsen Online shows that roughly 75% of online shoppers are willing to try a new Internet merchant. And if you already have a web presence now is the time to change your message, change your look, retire your summer campaign and gear up for a new year and a new decade.

The need to get online today can be equated to "having to take medicine." People need to take medicine but often take it at the wrong time. Think of the economy and the months ahead as "flu season." You can wait until you get sick and then start taking meds, which will only slightly reduce the symptoms of your illness, or you can start taking your medication before you get sick ensuring that you make it through flu season healthy and strong.