What is open source software?
"The International Organization for Standardization (the ISO) has today approved a standard file format to be used worldwide for the storage of files produced by business software packages (word processor documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, etc.). ISO 26300."
"For the first time in the history of computing, software users will be guaranteed that they will be able to use their data in any compliant software package, both now and in the future. The point of an open standard is that any compliant application can use it."
To put it succinctly, Open Source Software is free software that anyone can use! It is as simple as that.
The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When software is made available to the general public with either relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions, programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code. This creates a chain of software evolution. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. All of this can happen at an astonishing speed, especially if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development.
In addition to the above, open source software is a virtually virus free environment. With this in mind, it is easy to see why network environments are perfectly suited to utilise open source solutions.
Open source solutions are less expensive and have proven to be far more stable than commercial offerings. All of the major suppliers of computer hardware now offer the option to supply their equipment with open source operating systems pre-loaded.
