Open Source is software that is delivered to the end user with open source code. That is, the application can be modified to suit its tasks without violating the copyright of the developers of the source software. The solution is distributed under GNU/Linux, MIT, etc. licenses.
The concept itself arose as an alternative to proprietary software when commercial companies blocked access to the source code.
Features
The software distributed as an Open Source product has a number of features:
- Software products are delivered absolutely free of charge to the end user.
- They are developed by different people who use it themselves. They closely monitor the program code, promptly eliminating errors or vulnerabilities that can lead to critical consequences.
- Most Open Source products are compatible with different operating system families, meaning they are cross-platform.
- The free software development community is open to user feedback. Each of them can make a suggestion to improve or add a new feature.
- Open Source solutions are updated much more often than commercial products. The end user receives up-to-date fixes instantly as soon as they are fixed.
- The active development of free software revives competition among commercial organizations, which contributes to improving the quality of the latter.
- As a commercial basis, developers use the donation option in their solutions. That is, users can voluntarily support programmers with financial resources by transferring to an electronic wallet.
- Most Open Source solutions are created for Unix/Linux operating systems, which reduces the risk of infection of the computer or server with a virus. This is due to the fact that malware is mostly written under Windows.
Examples
Among the most well—known open source products are WordPress, a content management system on websites. All product features are delivered to the user for free. PHP was used as the programming language, and MySQL was used as the database.
A free alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice. The software features are identical, and the interface is very similar.
The PHP programming language is based on scripts. It is used for most web applications and dynamic sites.
GIMP is an alternative to the commercial Adobe Photoshop product. The functions and features are completely identical to the commercial solution.
Mozilla Firefox is developed on the Quantum engine, distributed by default in many Linux distributions as the main browser in the OS.
Open Source solutions are provided as an alternative to commercial software, but for free. Developers create a high-quality product, which promotes competition in the software market. If desired, users can independently modify the source code of Open Source products for their tasks.