Open Source Software Wikipedia

Leo Migdal

-Dec 4, 2025, 3:39 PM

This is an accepted version of this page Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to... Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration, meaning any capable user is able to participate online in development, making the number of possible contributors indefinite. The ability to examine the code facilitates public trust in the software.[3] Open-source software development can bring in diverse perspectives beyond those of a single company. A 2024 estimate of the value of open-source software to firms is $8.8 trillion, as firms would need to spend 3.5 times the amount they currently do without the use of open source software.[4]

Open-source code can be used for studying and allows capable end users to adapt software to their personal needs in a similar way user scripts and custom style sheets allow for web sites, and... The Open Source Initiative's (OSI) definition is recognized by several governments internationally[5] as the standard or de facto definition. OSI uses The Open Source Definition to determine whether it considers a software license open source. The definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines, written and adapted primarily by Bruce Perens.[6][7][8] Perens did not base his writing on the "four freedoms" from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which... Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code,[1] design documents,[2] or content of the product.

The open source model is a decentralized software development model that encourages open collaboration.[3][4] A main principle of open source software development is peer production, with products such as source code, blueprints, and documentation... The open source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of proprietary code. The model is used for projects such as in open source eCommerce, open source appropriate technology,[5] and open source drug discovery.[6][7] Open source promotes universal access via an open-source or free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint.[8][9] Before the phrase open source became widely adopted, developers... Open source gained hold with the rise of the Internet.[10] The open-source software movement arose to clarify copyright, licensing, domain, and consumer issues. Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for usage, modification from its original design, and publication of their version (fork) back to...

Many large formal institutions have sprung up to support the development of the open-source movement, including the Apache Software Foundation, which supports community projects such as the open-source framework and the open-source HTTP server... The sharing of technical information predates the Internet and the personal computer considerably. For instance, in the early years of automobile development a group of capital monopolists owned the rights to a 2-cycle gasoline-engine patent originally filed by George B. Selden.[11] By controlling this patent, they were able to monopolize the industry and force car manufacturers to adhere to their demands, or risk a lawsuit. In 1911, independent automaker Henry Ford won a challenge to the Selden patent. The result was that the Selden patent became virtually worthless and a new association (which would eventually become the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association) was formed.[11] The new association instituted a cross-licensing agreement among all...

This is a list of free and open-source software (FOSS) packages, computer software licensed under free software licenses and open-source licenses. Software that fits the Free Software Definition may be more appropriately called free software; the GNU project in particular objects to their works being referred to as open-source.[1] For more information about the philosophical... However, nearly all software meeting the Free Software Definition also meets the Open Source Definition and vice versa. A small fraction of the software that meets either definition is listed here. Some of the open-source applications are also the basis of commercial products, shown in the List of commercial open-source applications and services. Be advised that available distributions of these systems can contain, or offer to build and install, added software that is neither free software nor open-source.

This is an accepted version of this page Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that gives users the right to use, share, modify, and distribute the software – modified or not – to everyone and provides the... FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free software and open-source software.[a][1] The rights guaranteed by FOSS originate from the "Four Essential Freedoms" of The Free Software Definition and the criteria of The Open... FOSS is the opposite of proprietary software, which is licensed restrictively or has undisclosed source code.[4] The historical precursor to FOSS was the hobbyist and academic public domain software ecosystem of the 1960s to 1980s. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux distributions and descendants of BSD are widely used, powering millions of servers, desktops, smartphones, and other devices.[9][10] Free-software licenses and open-source licenses have been adopted by...

Reasons for using FOSS include decreased software costs, increased security against malware, stability, privacy, opportunities for educational usage, and giving users more control over their own hardware. The free software movement and the open-source software movement are online social movements behind widespread production, adoption and promotion of FOSS, with the former preferring to use the equivalent term free/libre and open-source software. FOSS is supported by a loosely associated movement of multiple organizations, foundations, communities and individuals who share basic philosophical perspectives and collaborate practically, but may diverge in detail questions. "Free and open-source software" (FOSS) is an umbrella term for software that is considered free software and open-source software.[1] The precise definition of the terms "free software" and "open-source software" applies them to any... Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that gives users the right to use, share, modify, and distribute the software – modified or not – to everyone and provides the... FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free software and open-source software.

The rights guaranteed by FOSS originate from the "Four Essential Freedoms" of The Free Software Definition and the criteria of The Open Source Definition. All FOSS can have publicly available source code, but not all source-available software is FOSS. FOSS is the opposite of proprietary software, which is licensed restrictively or has undisclosed source code. The historical precursor to FOSS was the hobbyist and academic public domain software ecosystem of the 1960s to 1980s. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux distributions and descendants of BSD are widely used, powering millions of servers, desktops, smartphones, and other devices. Free-software licenses and open-source licenses have been adopted by many software packages.

Reasons for using FOSS include decreased software costs, increased security against malware, stability, privacy, opportunities for educational usage, and giving users more control over their own hardware. The free software movement and the open-source software movement are online social movements behind widespread production, adoption and promotion of FOSS, with the former preferring to use the equivalent term free/libre and open-source software. FOSS is supported by a loosely associated movement of multiple organizations, foundations, communities and individuals who share basic philosophical perspectives and collaborate practically, but may diverge in detail questions. (More about free and open-source software...) Alternative terms for free software, such as OSS, FOSS, and FLOSS, have been a recurring issue among free and open-source software users from the late 1990s onwards. These terms share almost identical licence criteria and development practices.

In 1983 Richard Stallman launched the free software movement and founded the Free Software Foundation to promote the movement and to publish its own definition. Others have published alternative definitions of free software, notably the Debian Free Software Guidelines. In 1998, Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond began a campaign to market open-source software and founded the Open Source Initiative, which espoused different goals and a different philosophy from Stallman's. (Full article...) Free/open-source software – the source availability model used by free and open-source software (FOSS) – and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.

Under the closed-source model source code is not released to the public. Closed-source software is maintained by a team who produces their product in a compiled-executable state, which is what the market is allowed access to. Microsoft, the owner and developer of Windows and Microsoft Office, along with other major software companies, have long been proponents of this business model, although in August 2010, Microsoft interoperability general manager Jean Paoli... The FOSS model allows for able users to view and modify a product's source code, but most of such code is not in the public domain. Common advantages cited by proponents for having such a structure are expressed in terms of trust, acceptance, teamwork and quality.[2] A non-free license is used to limit what free software movement advocates consider to be the essential freedoms.

A license, whether providing open-source code or not, that does not stipulate the "four software freedoms",[3] are not considered "free" by the free software movement. A closed source license is one that limits only the availability of the source code. By contrast a copyleft license claims to protect the "four software freedoms" by explicitly granting them and then explicitly prohibiting anyone to redistribute the package or reuse the code in it to make derivative... Some licenses grant the four software freedoms but allow redistributors to remove them if they wish. Such licenses are sometimes called permissive software licenses.[4] An example of such a license is the FreeBSD License which allows derivative software to be distributed as non-free or closed source, as long as they... A misconception that is often made by both proponents and detractors of FOSS is that it cannot be capitalized.[5] FOSS can and has been commercialized by companies such as Red Hat, Canonical, Mozilla, Google,...

Open source software (OSS) is source code developed and maintained through open collaboration. Anyone can use, examine, alter and redistribute OSS as they see fit, typically at no cost. Open source contrasts with proprietary or closed source software applications such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Illustrator. The creator or copyright holder sells the proprietary or closed source software to end users, who are not allowed to edit, enhance or redistribute the product except as specified by the copyright holder. “Open source” also refers to a community-based approach to creating intellectual property, such as software, through open collaboration, inclusiveness, transparency and frequent public updates. Open source has become a fundamental pillar of modern software development, especially in regard to the modern enterprise DevOps model—a set of practices, protocols and technologies used to accelerate the delivery of higher-quality applications...

By integrating open source tools into DevOps workflows, teams can streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks and foster greater collaboration, ultimately accelerating development and deployment cycles. According to a study from the Linux Foundation, 70-90% of any given software code base consists of open source elements.1 Many popular software as a service (SaaS) applications, such as HubSpot and Salesforce, incorporate... Even traditionally closed ecosystems such as Apple rely on open source tools. For example, many iOS developers use open source libraries and frameworks to make development faster and more efficient Open source is a software similar to free software, but is more related to business.[1] It is different from other software because the source code is available to everyone. The source code is a set of instructions for the computer, written in a programming language.

Anyone can see how the source code works and can change it if they want to make it work differently. The opposite of open source is closed source. Closed source software is not available to everyone. Open source has a lot in common with free software but each has its own focus and goals. Open source and free software have been around for decades. They became more popular with the Linux and BSD software communities.

To protect the code, a special user license is used. The most common kinds of licence are the GPL, BSD and LGPL. Wikipedia uses open source too. The Open Source Movement is led by the Open Source Initiative. The open source movement became separate from the free software movement in 1998. The term open source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible.

The term originated in the context of software development to designate a specific approach to creating computer programs. Today, however, "open source" designates a broader set of values—what we call "the open source way." Open source projects, products, or initiatives embrace and celebrate principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping, transparency,... Open source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. "Source code" is the part of software that most computer users don't ever see; it's the code computer programmers can manipulate to change how a piece of software—a "program" or "application"—works. Programmers who have access to a computer program's source code can improve that program by adding features to it or fixing parts that don't always work correctly. Some software has source code that only the person, team, or organization who created it—and maintains exclusive control over it—can modify.

Open Source Software Wikipedia

People Also Search

This Is An Accepted Version Of This Page Open-source Software

Open-source Code Can Be Used For Studying And Allows Capable

The Open Source Model Is A Decentralized Software Development Model

Many Large Formal Institutions Have Sprung Up To Support The

This Is A List Of Free And Open-source Software (FOSS)