Open Source Software

Open Source software is software that is licensed under one of the many Open Source licenses provided by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). To be eligible for an Open Source licence, the software must conform to the Open Source Definition provided by the OSI. This definition states that;

• The licensed software should be distributed freely.
• The source code of the licensed software should be made available either bundled with the software or in cases where this is inappropriate, via other publicised mean such as the Internet.
• The licensed software should be freely modifiable and any derived works must be allowed to be distributed under the same terms as the original software.
• The licensed software should be made available to everyone and for any purpose.

Possible benefits of using Open Source software

The underlying principle of Open Source software is that when programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.

This means that in principal Open Source software should be more adaptable and have fewer bugs. Also as many people are developing the code, bugs should be highlighted and fixed relatively quickly compared to commercial software.

Financially, Open Source software carries no licensing fees. This allows institutions with a limited budget, such as schools to acquire functionality that would otherwise be out of reach.

Other major advantages of using Open Source software are that it is normally developed to be cross platform compatible and is developed so that any external requirements such as databases can be obtained via other Open Source software.