A Brief Overview of Open Source Software

Software allows computers to perform tasks, and as computers are capable of performing new tasks this development demands advances in software as well. For every command there is a variety of software that can perform it, each one of them being unique and having different functions that separate one from another. The majority of the well known software is copyrighted, meaning one must buy a copy for every computer that the user intends on running the software on. In addition, the software can not be modified to fit the individual needs, or redistributed. These requirements can be a costly, especially on the corporate scale. Imagine, a company that buys multiple copies of copyright software for each computer is able to work adequately with that software for a couple of years, until new demands are placed on the company. Demands that can not be met with existing software and without the option of modifying the original software makes the company must buy new software, which is usually an upgrade of their existing software, costing a lot of money.

However, there are other options instead of purchasing and repurchasing the same copyright software over and over again. It is called Open Source Software (OSS) and it promises better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. Open source software is the same as any other software, except that it is protected by copyleft licenses. Copyleft ensures that the source codes will be available and guarantee the user the rights to modify the software for their own needs. One of the greatest appeals of open source software is that almost all open source software is free of charge. Some examples of OSS are Mozilla products, including Firefox, which is the number one competing web browser against Internet Explorer, and Open Office which is a free, open alternative for Microsoft Office. For every major proprietary piece of software there are a variety of free, open source software replacements. Why have the companies not taken advantage of the free replacement? Even though OSS has come far in the last several years with legal issues, there are still many problems and doubts about OSS including the ability to use it, reliability, security, and legal issues.