Week 7: Clear on Open Source

Open Source Software

"nom nom nom" by Matt McGee

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleeker/3006047398/

Creative Commons License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

What is Open Source Software?

Open source software is always freely distributed software that contains the source code of the program. When developers include the source code with their software, they are giving you the opportunity to find errors in the software, or develop your own version of the software and make changes to the existing software.

What can you do with Open Source software?

You can do the following things with open source software:

• You can develop your own version of the software
• You can create new features to the software
• You can fix errors in the software (and make money doing it)
• You can distribute your own version of the software

So what are the downsides to using Open Source Software?

As seen in the picture above, with having a dog comes other responsibilities. The dog must be fed, walked, and tended to daily. Much like a dog, open source software that you develop may have problems, or you may need to hire other individuals to change the existing code for your company. Once these changes are made, you can sell the software.  Why is this important in business, you ask? Your company may be just starting up and may need to decide whether they would like to pay for their software, or use open source software as an alternative. This may be very cost-effective, and can bring the company off the ground if they develop their own strains of the open source software.

What are some examples of Open Source Software available today?

Some of the most popular examples of open source software include (but are not limited to):

• Mozilla Firefox
• Filezilla
• RealVNC
• WGet
• Audacity
• Gimp
• OpenOffice
• Linux
• Apache

And many, many more!

A great source that I've found while researching Open Source software can be found here:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question435.htm

This website will help answer anything you are unsure about with Open Source software!

Thanks for reading! See you next week!