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Answering the question "What is Open Source software?" used to be a lot simpler than it is today. Open Source began as, and for the most part still is, software created by a community of people who are dedicated to working together in a highly collaborative and evolutionary way.

Open Source vs. Commercial Software

The most important difference between software created by the Open Source communities and commercial software sold by vendors is that Open Source software is published under licenses that ensure that the source code is available to everyone to inspect, change, download, and explore as they wish. This is the essential meaning of Open Source: the source code - the language in which the software is written and the key to understanding how the software works - can be obtained and improved by anyone with the right skills.

More precise definitions extend this basic concept by adding provisions concerning derivative works, the rights to use the software for any purpose, the rights of the original author, and prohibitions against discrimination.

How Open Source Software Is Developed

For those new to the idea of Open Source or unfamiliar with the way software gets developed, here's how it works most of the time:

• One or more developers - meaning people who have the skills to create software - get an idea about creating software to solve a problem.
• The developers start writing code to create a solution. This is frequently called "scratching an itch."
• The developers put this code where other developers can find out about it, download it, and play with it. There are many locations, such as SourceForge.net, where people post their projects.
• Usually the source code is published under one of several popular Open Source licenses that ensure that the source code and any derivative works remain Open Source.
• Through an informal process of sharing ideas, fiddling with each others' code, and trial and error, the software gets better and better, sometimes changing direction to solve new problems as new people discover the software.
• At some point, the software gets finished or doesn't. It becomes popular, stays obscure, or fades away. Programs like Linux and Apache have had thousands of contributors. Other projects have been created by one or two people.
• As time goes on, developers come and go, and projects become active or dormant.

A huge amount of amazing software has been created through this loose process. While much of Open Source development has focused on creating tools for software developers, an increasing amount of effort is being put into creating programs to solve less technical problems like publishing blogs or keeping track of skydiving activity.

Free as in Freedom (and lower risk)

For users of software who have the skills to download and install software, Open Source means choice and freedom. Put simply, Open Source software allows anyone to inspect and improve the source code. This process has resulted in highly reliable, secure, high-performance platforms on which to build web applications.

Choosing Open Source software can lower your overall technology risk and reduce the cost of development and long-term maintenance. While independent software vendors are motivated primarily to generate a profit, Open Source developers tend to focus only on computing problems. Open Source software generally complies with industry standards and doesn’t carry the risk of “vendor lock-in” and forced upgrades by software vendors.

Throughout the last ten years, the Open Source developer community has produced many of the most trusted building blocks of the web. Apache, the Open Source web server, is used on half of all web sites. PHP, though a non-commercial product, is used on over 20 million web sites and is more popular than Microsoft’s competing solution.

Commercial Software Vendors

Most commercial software vendors love Open Source like Linux or the MySQL database when it helps make it easier to sell their products. The same vendors may then hate Open Source when it competes.

Companies use Open Source in many different ways. Some build entire products on Open Source and then release the source code as a marketing vehicle. SugarCRM and Compiere are two companies that follow this model. Open Source becomes a marketing technique in that case.

Some companies try to imitate the collaborative development methodologies of Open Source on their teams. Collabnet has created tools that help companies develop software using lessons learned from Open Source projects.

Commercial vendors sometimes release proprietary software into the marketplace to either create a friendly environment for their products or to threaten a competitor by creating a free alternative. IBM made its Eclipse development environment Open Source, which has created a thriving community.

Commercial software vendors also sometimes release as Open Source products that are old or ailing to breathe new life into them by trying to form a developer community. Netscape was the first to do this, and many have followed. Commercial software vendors also release products as Open Source to attempt to relieve themselves of the work of supporting the projects without leaving users in the lurch.

Entrepreneurs have put Open Source to work building companies or products. Yahoo, Amazon, and Google all make heavy use of Open Source. A growing number of venture-funded companies are built using Open Source or offer services related to Open Source. Some companies have even been known to publish books and run conferences related to Open Source.

The base of this text is researched from different sources. The facts that are presented are checked and double-checked to be as correct and accurate as possible. However, Success Webmasters makes no representations or warranties as to the completeness or accuracy of the information.