What Is Open Source

There are many definitions of what constitutes open source. The basic idea is very simple: By making the source code for a piece of software available to all, any programmer can modify it to better suit his or her needs and redistribute the improved version to other users. By working together, a community of both users and developers can improve the functionality and quality of the software. Thus to be open source requires that anyone can get and modify the source code and that they can freely redistribute any derived works they create from it. The different licenses have various wrinkles on whether modifications must also be made into open source or if they can be kept proprietary. Open source is about software source code, licenses, communities, culture, and distributed software development. Although open-source projects can provide plenty of benefits for companies who use it, open source is not something to do on a whim. Open source is based at least in part on a phenomenon called the gift economy, which on the surface seems at odds with corporate practices. Nevertheless, marketing and innovation benefits, as well as clearly separating commodity efforts from value-enhancing ones, can make all the difference in a business climate that values carefully thought-out innovation.