Open Source Software
An open source software program or application includes a license with the ability for anyone to access and modify the original software. Usually, a team of volunteers develop an open source software and then participate in writing and maintaining the software program. However, it's possible for anyone who creates software to make it open source, since open source describes the licensing.
Software Basics
Software is a set of instructions for a computer that accomplishes a task. Most computer users are familiar with many types of software, such as the operating system for a personal computer, the emissions control computers for cars, and applications that do work for us like word processors, email, or spreadsheets. Software tells the computer hardware what to do.
Licenses for software
Companies or individuals who create software applications own the copyright to their products, but the product is a software program, not a physical item. When you buy a physical product, like an article of clothing, you own the item. It becomes your property, and you have ownership. You can give it away, sell it, or put it in the trash. You don't "buy" software, and you purchase a license to use the software.
When you pay for commercial software, you pay for the license to use the software product. You don't own the right to the original software code, only the right to use the software on one or more computers, depending on how the license. You may have a physical media, like a DVD or CD, but you don't own the software itself, only the right to use it according to the terms of your license.
Retail software licenses allow you to use the software for your own personal or business use, on one or more computers. A good example is when you purchase a Windows personal computer; you obtain a license from Microsoft which includes your right to use their operating system on the hardware. However, you can't modify or change the operating system in any way, you don't have a license to do that, and you can't access the code used to create the software.
While your license includes the right to use the software, it doesn't allow you to include the software in any other software product for sale. businessTo resell software requires a different or additional license from the software company since the company owns the copyright and determines how they license the software for sale.
As an example or resale licensing, Google licenses their Android operating system to smartphone manufacturers. They pay Google a fee for selling each device that includes the Android operating system software.
An open source license
This "license" is what open source is all about. Open source software carries a license which usually prohibits the sale of the Open Source software and any products which are with the open source software as part of the product. It's completely free to use and modify, but no one can sell or commercially license any software that includes the open source product.
Open source software efforts developed as a result of programmers wanting to write software code that didn't require a commercial license. While some open source software is developed by individuals, due to the complexity of software the effort is usually a community effort and voluntary. No one makes money from selling the software, and no one gets paid for contributing to the software.
Community developed software
The idea behind open source that since a community contributes to the software, no company can claim ownership and control the software. While an open source product may seem risky as a result of an all-volunteer effort, it can often create higher quality, more flexible software products, with new features and capabilities added more quickly than commercial products.
Examples of some popular and widely-used open source software include Word Press for blogging, Open Office, an alternative to popular word processing, spreadsheet, the Mozilla Firefox, web browser, and the Linux operating system.
Add-ons and services
A commercial software product made by companies Microsoft, Google, Apple or Adobe is controlled and licensed by the owner. These companies do allow third-parties to create add-on software for their products which add capabilities, but the commercial software product cannot be modified, and it requires a license to use it from the owner of the product. It's up to the software company to add features, create updates, and extend the capabilities of the software. The biggest advantage of commercial software is that it does have the support of a company behind it and that sometimes includes technical support service.
People and organizations are allowed to make money by providing services, support, packaged solutions, and add-on software that doesn't include the open source code. WordPress, the open source blogging software, has thousands of companies that create paid add-ons and services for WordPress, but the WordPress application itself is always free to use and modify.
To my way of thinking
Open source software offers a valuable alternative to commercial software applications that are owned and controlled. Open source keeps commercial software companies competitive from both a feature and pricing standpoint. Open source software attracts people and businesses who create innovative and useful add-ons that may not be available for a commercial product.
However, not all open source solutions are entirely free.
Since open source software allows anyone to modify the software code, it's important to make sure when you use any open source program that you maintain updates to keep your application secure, and any support services might cost more than a commercial software application.
Not a subscriber? Don't miss a single issue: