OPEN SOURCE

Open Source Software (or Free/Libre Open Source Software – FLOSS – to be precise) refers to any software that is developed and tested collaboratively and distributed freely to anyone who wants to use or customise it. All users are allowed to access the source code (hence the name ’open source’) and are permitted to change, add, enhance or customise the software in any way they wish – as long as they too allow others to use their changes and share them with others. There’s nothing to stop developers from charging people for their work but, unlike proprietary software, those who sell their version of OSS may not refuse others the right to share or view the source code. So the software is free, as in freedom to tinker, share and distribute; not free as in free beer, as movement founder Richard Stallman so fabulously put it.