Open Source Software (OSS)

Open source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Although some claim that open source refers to source code only, both terms are actually the same thing because software is comprised of open source code and open source code is the core of all software.

However open source does not just mean access to the source code because the distribution terms of open source software can require complying with the various criteria. The Open Source Initiative maintains a list of OSI Approved Licence types.

Overview

Open source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible - anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit. Open source software is developed in a collaborative way, relying on peer review and community production. Open source software is often cheaper, more flexible, and has more longevity than its proprietary peers because it is developed by communities rather than a single author or company.

For a long time open source software hwas refered to as free software. The free software movement was formally established in 1983 through the GNU Project. The free software movement organized itself around the idea of user freedoms: freedom to see the source code, to modify it, to redistribute it - to make it available and to work for the user in whatever way the user needed it to work. Free software exists as a counterpart to proprietary or closed source software.

Open Source vs. Commercial Licensing

While open source is devloped by volunteers, closed source is deveoped by paid workers. Consequently closed source software is highly guarded as intellectual property by its owners to protect their investment and costs.

Only the owners of the source code have the legal right to access that code. Closed source code cannot be legally altered or copied, and the user pays only to use the software as it is intended - they cannot modify it for new uses nor share it with their communities.

The value of open source

While the main advantages of open source are transparency, flexibility and ongoing maintenance to keep abreast of the ever changing IT climate, it can pose problems when it comes to security applications because the first line of defence with any security application is obscurity. But with open source its inner workings are publicly exposed and vulnerable to manipaulation by hackers and other malovents.

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