1.7 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Open Source Software (OSS) is software that comes with source code, and importantly also provides rights (typically reserved for copyright holders) to study, change and improve the software. This development happens in a larger collaborative environment, without any direct objective of the software‘s commercial success. 

Primary objectives of the Open Source movement are as following: 

  • Encourage innovation at the grass-root level and facilitate collaborative software development involving individual talent than it being the prerogative of the large companies. 
  • Reduce the software cost. 
  • Improve quality and security 
  • Avoid forced lock-in to vendor‘s proprietary software.

Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the patron of the Open Source Definiton (OSD) and is the community-recognized body to evaluate and approve the software as OSD compliant. Some key criterion for OSD compliance are mentioned below: 

  • Free Redistribution : The license should allow any party to sell or give away the software as a component of a larger software distribution containing programs from multiple sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale. 
  • Source Code : The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as in executable form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. 
  • Derived Works : The license must allow changes to the existing source code and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software. 
  • No Discrimination against specific applications : The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific scenario. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used in drug research. 
  • License must Not Be Specific to a Product : The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program being part of a particular software distribution. 
  • License must Not Restrict Other Software : The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.

Some examples of Open Source Software are: 

Programming language 

  • PHP - Scripting language suited for the web

Operating System 

  • GNU Project — ―a sufficient body of free software‖ 
  • Linux — operating system kernel based on Unix

Server Software 

  • Apache — HTTP web server 
  • Tomcat web server — web container 
  • MySQL – database, popular for applications built on LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL,  PHP/PERL/Python) 
  • MediaWiki — wiki server software, the software that runs Wikipedia

Client software 

  • Mozilla Firefox — web browser 
  • Mozilla Thunderbird — e-mail client

Some typical challenges that used to be associated with the Open Source Software were lack of product support that typically comes with proprietary software, future upgrades, end-user training etc. Over a period of time, industry has evolved to overcome these challenges. For example, Red Hat Linux sells Linux operating system and provides product support, training as well. Further, it is important to note that Open Source Software is not always the best option for all the business needs. However, it does provide a good alternative to the proprietary software. One needs to do the required due-diligence to decide the right product for a specific situation.

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