What is Open Source?
As we explain in our Solutions page, Open Source is a software development model that is different from your typical "Closed Source" model. The main difference being that you get access to the source code (hence the term, "Open Source"), rather than just the software binaries. Source code, being the human readable instructions that allow you to "assemble" the software. If you do not have access to the source code, you can not modify the software. So, Open Source means the software can be modified by anyone with the motivation to do so - not just the original entity that developed it.
The true benefit behind this is the ability to be able change the software. If you find a bug in the software, it can be fixed straight away. If you require a new feature or want to modify an existing component of the software, it is possible to do so. This is not the case when you use software that is not distributed with source code. In this case, you're at the mercy of the original developers, as they are generally the only people with access to the source code.
The other key to Open Source Software is the actual licensing of the software. As, even if we have access to the source code of a piece of software, we may not be licensed to be able to change it or reuse it.
In it's basic form, an Open Source software license requires that software binaries are distributed with the source code (or at least provide a mechanism to retrieve the source code). If you change the software in any way and want to redistribute this software, you're required to distribute the source code along with the changes you made with your modified version of the software.
If we look at how computer systems are built, we find they are made up of a series of different software components put together to form a system. So, we have the software to boot our system; the software to allow us to login; the software to give us network access, etc etc. With Open Source Software, you have access to the components of this system. You are also free from paying licensing fees to utilise these components. So, you don't have to build it all yourself or pay large amounts of money in licensing.
If we want to build a website, we don't want to have to build the webserver to run it on. Or the Operating System that runs the web server. Fortunately enough, there is Open Source software that already exist to run our web server, so we can just build ontop of that. This only costs us the time and skill to develop our website and to install our webserver. We are free from restrictive licensing fees.
In a closed source computer system, you are still able to use it's components to build a website, but you're generally paying license fees to run the Operating System and another set of licensing fees to run your webserver. You still have your development costs to build your website, plus the time and skill to install the webserver.
Another important aspect of the Open Source development model is it's inherent compatibility with other computer systems. Because the source code is available, it is possible to change the software to "port" it across to another computer system. With this flexibility we are able to run the same software package on several different platforms - such as Windows, Mac and Linux Operating Systems.
The Open Source development model is well suited to collaborative software development, where everyone gets to add their own little piece to produce a well tested, well designed and robust software solution. Because we have access to the source code and do not have to pay licensing fees, we can rapidly develop products by utilising software components from other pieces of Open Source Software.
Who is using Open Source Software?
You may be surprised to know that you're using Open Source Software right now. The web server you are viewing this page from is run off a Linux based Operating System. Both Linux and the web server (Apache) are made up of Open Source software. It is even possible that you're using Mozilla Firefox (an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer) to browse these pages... this software is Open Source.A lot of the Hardware vendors such as HP, IBM and Dell all utilise and supply Open Source software. Redhat, Novell SuSe and Ubuntu Linux are all run on the hardware these companies assemble.
Some of the places you might see Open Source Software:
- The Dreamworks' movie "Shrek" was made using Linux based desktops and a Linux based render farm to render the animation sequences.
- Over 50% of the web pages you browse to on the Internet are hosted off an Open Source web server.
- The world's most popular search engine, Google supports and uses Open Source Software.
- The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia is built off Open Source Software called MediaWiki.
- Apple Mac OS X is built off Open Source Software called the Darwin Project.
- Open Office (an alternative to Microsoft Office) is Open Source and also supports the Open Document Format (ODF).
Open Standards
By definition Open Source Software also supports Open standards. These are standards that allow different software and computer systems to interact with each other. If these standards are not open, then we lose this compatibility. A good example of this is the Internet. The Internet did not just happen. There has been a lot of work into making sure that every computer in the world can talk to the Internet. This would not have been possible without the open standards that are used by our computers to talk to each other. These standards include the network protocol used for computers to communicate, the web browser language(s) used to present web pages and the name server standard used to resolve domain names. Open Source software has been built to comply with these standards, and as a result can kick others into line that might not necessarily find it in their interest to utilise open standards.
Interesting reading
If you're interested in reading up on the philosophies and origins of Open Source, check out some of the links below:
- History of Open Source
- Philosophies on Software Development - The Cathedral and the Bazaar
- Peru Government moves to Open Source
- Open Source Initiative
- The Netscape web browser goes Open Source
