Open Source Software
When writing software the developers have a choice they can make it Open Source which means that its code can be viewed and edited by users, or they can make it Proprietary which means that the source code can not be seen, or edited by users.
Open Source is often thought of as being free (it usually is) but what makes it Open Source is the fact that anyone can see and edit is underlying source code. This is just not the case with proprietary software. Popular open source software often has a wide group of people contributing ideas and code - this group is referred to as its community
Advantages of Open Source:
- Most open source software has a number of people contrbiuting to it. This brings in ideas from users in all sorts of industries. This can be more innovative and creative than relying on a development team of one company
- It can be adapted to meet a user, or small group of users, specific needs
- Popular software is very reliable and secure with problems being rapidly solved by the community
- It is not for profit which encourages people to share ideas and contribute
- It is (usually) free to users
Disadvantages of Open Source:
- Small projects may not get regular updates which means that..
- Software can be buggy
- Can have unpatched security flaws
- Some projects lack user documentation ( guides, help files etc)
- No legal protections (such as warranties) if things go wrong
- No customer support - but the community often support users
- If it is used to develop a new product, that product must also be Open Source
GIMP (graphics editor)
Firefox (web browser)
Android (operating system)
VLC (Media Player)
Ubuntu (operating system)