OPEN SOURCE

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

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The concept of open source is increasingly being used in other, non-programming areas and generally represents the development and sharing models for intellectual work. For the purposes of this website, we use the narrower concept of open source as a software movement.

The open source movement is a broad-reaching movement of individuals who support the use of open source licences for some or all software. Open source software is made available for anybody to use or modify, as its source code is made available.

Some open-source software is based on a share alike principle, whereby users are free to pass on the software subject to the stipulation that any enhancements or changes are just as freely available to the public, while other open-source projects may be freely incorporated into any derivative work, open source or proprietary.

The main difference between open source and traditional proprietary software is in user and property rights, the conditions of use imposed on the user by the software license, as opposed to differences in the programming code. With open source software, such as LibreOffice, users are granted the right to both the program's functionality and methodology. With proprietary software programs, such as Microsoft Office, users only have the rights to functionality. Examples of popular open source software products include Mozilla Firefox, Google Chromium, Android and LibreOffice.

Open Source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available and licensed with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Very often Open Source Software is developed in a public, collaborative manner and is the most prominent example of an open source collaborative development model. Strengths of OS movement and OSS are numerous, below are just some of the most important:

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• The collaborative nature of the open source community creates software that can offer customizability and, as a result, promotes the adoption of its products.

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• The open source community promotes the creation of software that is not proprietary, resulting in lower costs.

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• Individuals who have an intrinsic interest in code writing and software creation motivate the development of open source software within the community. This differs from proprietary software, the development of which is often motivated through potential monetary gains.

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• An open source tool puts the system administrator in control of the level of risk assumed in deploying the tool.

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• Open source provides flexibility not available in closed products. The hope is that individuals make improvements to an open tool and will offer those improvements to the original developer and community at large. The give-and-take of the gift economy benefits the entire community.

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• Open source licenses and software can be combined with proprietary software. While open source was initially seen as a threat to corporations, some companies found ways to strengthen their proprietary code with open source code, re-releasing it as an improvement.

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• In the event of market failure, programmers and innovators work together to make sure that the software still works.

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• Globalization of ICT Market.