Open-source software (OSS) is computer software whose human-readable source code is widely available perhaps under copyright. People may then modify the software and redistribute it, whether modified or not. Development is often a public, collaborative process. It is claimed that open source software may save consumers $60 billion per year.
Let's look more closely at some of the distribution criteria. Any redistribution must include the source code. Reasonable reproduction costs are allowed, but the software is usually downloaded free via the Internet. Modifications must be distributed under the same terms as the original product. Discrimination against individuals, groups, or fields of application is forbidden. The license may not specify use of any technology.
Open-source software stems from the free software movement that started in 1983. The word free can mean no cost or at liberty. To avoid this ambiguity, people started using the term open-source software. Netscape released its Internet browser source code as open source. Yet the company was sold for several billion dollars even though users didn't have to pay to download the browser.
Here are several principles of open-source software development. Users should be treated as co-developers. They can add valuable features to the software. According to Linus's Law, "Given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow." The more users the more testing environments. Microsoft has partially adopted this principle by making beta versions of software such as Windows 7 available to millions of people. The software should be released early to get more people involved as soon as possible. The fixes should be added quickly rather than towards the end of the project. The software should come in at least two versions, one with more features and the other more stable.
Does open-source software work? Let's examine some of the successes. Linux is a widely used operating system, in essence a variant of the decades-old Unix operating system. Many organizations have adopted Linux replacing Microsoft Windows based systems. Firefox is the second most widely used Internet browser. Open-source software doesn't always come in second. For more than a dozen years Apache has been the most widely used Internet web server. It is well integrated with other open-source software such as Linux but also works with Microsoft Windows. If you want the latest Apache updates and fixes (and presumably most web hosting companies do) you will get them first for Linux and only later for Microsoft Windows. The Perl programming language is nicknamed "the Swiss Army chainsaw of programming languages" because of its adaptability and flexibility.
How do people make money when the open-source software is given away free? There are several answers. Some people and companies make money from consulting and training fees. Another possibility is charging for advanced product versions. For example, the popular open-source database MySQL can be downloaded for free and literally millions of people have done so. Companies that need the Enterprise version will be ready to pay the relatively moderate fees. There must be something right with this business model; MySQL was recently sold to Sun Microsystems for more than $1 billion.
Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet. He teaches Linux and Windows operating systems plus other computer courses at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new website http://www.php4windows.com which teaches you how to download and run PHP on Windows computers, even if they are "obsolete" For a break from computers check out his global wine website at http://www.theworldwidewine.com with his new weekly column reviewing $10 wines
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