Open Source Software

Although it's been around for some time in other forms, open source software has only been getting much attention for the past decade or so.  Many people have heard of it, but have also encountered so much misinformation about it that it's hard to tell what's true and what's fiction.  This article aims to dispel some myths and give you some facts about open source software.

To be considered open source software, a program has to meet a few requirements.  First, the source code of the software must be available under some license that meets the Open Source Definition used by the Open Source Initiative.  While much open source software is given away, it's also possible to ask a fee for your software and remain open source.  However, it's important that the software be able to be freely given away or sold – others must be able to redistribute it, not just the company that made it.

The source code must be either included in the software package, or easily obtainable, so that other users can modify it.  Those modifications must be allowed to be redistributed under the license.  However, the license can require that these modifications can only be redistributed as patches, to maintain the integrity of the author's original source code.

The Open Source Definition also requires that no group or person can be discriminated against, and no field of endeavor, such as commercial users, can be excluded.  The rights included in the license must also apply to everyone to whom the software has been redistributed, without the need for any additional licensing.  Open source licenses must not favor some technology over others, such as requiring a way of accepting the license specific to certain media.  The license can't be part of a larger, distribution, or restrict other software. 

The goal of this definition is to make sure that the source code of open source software is available to everyone equally, and to allow everyone to modify this software as they choose.  This allows open source software to keep evolving, even after the original creator is no longer working on it.

There are a lot of myths about open source software.  One such myth is that open source software is used only because it's free or cheap.  Some people insist that if other software were just as inexpensive, it would be used instead of the open source option.  However, many companies report that they've switched to open source solutions, such as Linux operating systems and Apache server programs, not because they're cheaper, but because they're more flexible and reliable.  Fewer crashes and failures are now reported in many companies that have made the switch.

Another common myth is that open source software is entirely unsupported.  There's a grain of truth to this, but it's not as simple as that.  Non open source software usually has a single corporation which provides the support for a given product.  This makes getting support a matter of calling a help line or looking online, and possibly paying fees to receive support.  Open source software has often been developed by multiple parties, which means that there's no one person to go to.  However, most open source projects do have a large number of mailing lists, forums, archives, and support databases, as well as more readily available developers of whom questions can be asked, all free of charge.  However, this does mean that there's no one authority – asking a single question can get you a lot of different, conflicting answers.  This can make it harder to figure out what's wrong, but it can also provide more answers to your problem.

The last myth of open source software to be addressed here is that open source software doesn't work as well.  This is a descendant of the old saw: “you get what you pay for.”  In some cases, it's true, since volunteer developers can leave plenty of errors.  However, this varies by program, and the likelihood of a given piece of open source software working the way you want it to is about the same as that of non open source programs.  Most people find out whether a program of any kind works via word of mouth.  There are plenty of great, highly functional open source programs out there.  Some of them are becoming the industry standard in their fields, particularly in the realm of networking.