What is Open Source?

The core principles behind any open-source project are as follows:

An open-source community is a group of people who come together to achieve a common purpose. Their shared values and goals guide decision making and drive the open-source project forward.

Open-source projects ensure that everyone in the community has access to the information and materials necessary for doing their best work. With awareness of the bigger picture, team members make more effective decisions and build on each other's ideas and discoveries.

Community projects encourage teamwork, so a group solves problems that individuals alone cannot. For example, members in any open-source initiative contribute changes to improve what someone else has built. You can also establish rules so others can modify the solution as needed in the future.

An open-source project follows an iterative approach, in which team members create and share prototypes at frequent intervals. Rapid prototyping encourages a culture of experimentation. You can improve and carry forward changes that work and discard those that don't.

The open-source movement encourages diverse perspectives and conversations. The community makes decisions by consensus but also prioritizes success. The best ideas get more support and effort from the open-source community.

Although an open-source license is less restrictive than a proprietary license, the level and range of permissions vary by type. The following are some common types of open-source licenses.

The public domain license indicates that anyone can modify, use, or commercialize the software without restrictions. In most cases, the public domain open-source software creators made an intentional or voluntary decision not to copyright the software.

Permissive open-source licenses contain minimal requirements for how you can modify or distribute the software. Some examples of this license type are the Apache License and the Berkeley Source Distribution (BSD) license. Although the original software is copyrighted and open source, users can commercialize and redistribute modified versions.

The Lesser General Public License (LGPL) permits you to use open-source components without restrictions. These components are often accessible as code modules called libraries, which you can plug into any of your code and use. If you use LGPL source code in your application, you can commercialize the application. However, if you modify the existing LGPL code, you must redistribute it under the same license again.

• If you modify copyleft open-source components, you must release all the new source code along with your application. However, you don't have to do this if you use the application only internally and never release it to the public.
• You may sell your GPL modifications, but the buyer can redistribute them further if they choose.
• You must give credit to all past code authors in your new code's copyright statement.

Open standards are software development rules that support uniformity and interoperability in technology. They are freely available for implementation, adoption, and updates. As a result, they make many aspects of our everyday life more comfortable and convenient.

For example, standards allow all types of machines to connect to all types of wireless routers. You can use your laptop to connect to the internet from your home and from your favorite café, irrespective of the router they use. Without standards, you would have to find a café with a router that is compatible with your laptop!

Standards are the rules, guidelines, and specifications for writing certain types of source code, rather than the code itself. Software standards must follow certain rules to be classified as open source. For instance, if you require proprietary technology to implement certain standards, then those standards are not open source.

The term free software refers to a social movement, also called the free software movement, aiming to obtain and guarantee certain freedoms for software users. This movement works to make sure users have the freedom to do the following:

• Run the software.
• Study the software.
• Modify the software.
• Share copies of the software.

Today, free software refers to open-source licenses in the public domain. Open-source software now includes more types of licenses and can impose some restrictions on users, unlike in the free software movement. Because the terms freeware and free software are used interchangeably, it is better to refer to free software as public domain software.

The term freeware simply means an otherwise commercial product that is available for free for a limited time. Freeware can also be free trial versions or limited feature versions of a product that otherwise requires subscription fees. Even if you get access to freeware, you will not have the right to resell, share, or modify it in any way.