What is Open Source Software?

Open source software is the public code anyone can see and change. Software developers can use "source code" to alter how the application works. If someone has access to the source code of a program, they can change how the software functions overall.

Is open source software free?

Open source software does not necessarily mean that executable software is given away for free. It does, however, mean that its source code is available for free.

For instance, the source code for Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® is freely available to anyone (see for yourself), but converting that source code into runnable code requires expertise, time, and servers. When organizations want the production-ready code for Red Hat Enterprise Linux without having to reconstruct it themselves from source code, they obtain a subscription.

Open source software is also sometimes conflated with the free software movement, which can add to the confusion around whether open source means "free." The free software movement grew out of the hacker culture of the 1970s and was formally founded by Richard Stallman as part of the GNU Project and the non-profit Free Software Foundation. Usually, "free software" is meant to emphasize a freedom in the rights of end-users, but can sometimes be confused as meaning "free of cost."

In actuality, neither free software nor open source software denote anything about cost—both kinds of software can be legally sold or given away. Instead, the primary difference between them has to do with sharing. For free software, if you make changes to source code and want to share them, you also have to share those changes back with the original project. For open source software, there is typically no such restriction.

Why does open source software matter?

Open source software matters to everyone, not just programmers, because it unlocks the potential of many more people to become innovators than a closed-source model. Open source communities, for instance, are organized around open source projects where anyone with skills can join and contribute code. These groups still maintain standards around contributing to open source projects just like proprietary software teams do, but they open up this process to anyone in the world who wants to contribute.

Open Source is for anyone to use, change, or share. It can encourage collaboration and learning within the software industry. Open source code is not typically very specific, allowing people to use it for a broad range of projects without needing to spend unnecessary time writing code that has already been written.

Many developers use open source software solutions because it enables them to build applications quicker by leveraging source code already written. Open source software is has a community of people that use and change the code in different ways – for those wanting to learn more, being a part of this community is a great way to watch other ways of thinking and building applications.

From a business’s standpoint, using open source software means that others can go in and tweak the software, allowing for better security and performance. If you believe your business could benefit from Charter Global, give us a call today!

Charter Global has been providing IT services, skilled technology resources, consulting, and business solutions to corporate customers since 1994.