Open source software is a software that is developed, tested and
modified through public teamwork. It is shared with others to take the benefit
of future technology. In simple language, the term “open source” is something
people with coding knowledge can modify and share. This feature is available as
its design is accessible for free on the internet.
Open source documents
enjoy the principles of open exchange, rapid prototyping, transparency,
collaborative participation, meritocracy and community-oriented development.
Difference
between open source software and other types of software
Software has source code and only the person, team or organization
who developed the code has the exclusive rights to maintain the code. In
general terms, this type of software is termed as “proprietary” or “closed
source” software. Whereas, open source software works on different methodology.
The developer who developed this software share the code to others who would
like to view the code for different reasons. The reason of the programmer other
than developer to access the code is to copy, learn or sometime to develop
something unique from an existing code.
The motive of the developer to share the open source software code
with others is to enhance the features of software or to fix the bug in the code.
Why
programmers prefer to use open source software?
Following are the reasons why programmers prefer open source
software:
·
Control:
Programmers prefer open source
software because they have full access over
the software internal coding, it means programmers can examine the code to
ensure the code is not doing anything for which it is not programmed for and
they have all the rights to change any part of the code which they don’t like.
·
Training: People
other than programmers like open source software because it helps them to learn
the coding. As the code of open source software is shared publicly, so students
pursuing the IT course can learn how to make a better software.
·
Security: Some
people like to use open source software because they find it more secure and
stable than any proprietary software. As this is publicly accessible, so anyone
can view and modify the code, if flaws traced that the developer might have
missed.
·
Stability:
Programmers use open source software for important and long term projects.
Because the developer publicly distributes the source code, programmers
trusting on the software for the critical tasks can be sure their technology on
which they are working won’t disappear in case developer stop working further
on the coding.
·
Reusability:
Programmers use the open source code of
the software to lessen their workload when they knew the same functionality is
available for free. So, they just use the code for adding a particular
functionality in their working software. This saves their time and efforts in
coding.
Advantages
of using open Source Software
·
Reliability
·
Stability
·
Auditability
·
Cost
·
Flexibility and Freedom
·
Support and Accountability
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