Open-source software is released through a specific kind of license that makes its source code legally available to end-users. There are many such licenses, but typically software is considered open source if-
It is available in source code form without additional cost i.e. users can view the code that comprises the software and make any kind of changes to it they want. The source code can be repurposed into other new software, meaning anyone can take the source code and distribute their program from it.
Is open-source software always free?
Open-source software does not necessarily mean that executable software is given always free because converting that source code into an enforceable code requires expertise, time, and servers.
Open-source software is also sometimes conflated with the free software movement, which can add to the confusion around whether open source means ‘free.’ The free software movement grew out of the ‘hacker culture’ of the 1970s and was formally founded by Richard Stallman as part of the GNU Project and the non-profit Free Software Foundation. Usually, ‘free software’ is meant to emphasize freedom in the rights of end-users, but can sometimes be confused as meaning ‘free of cost.’
FOSS vs. Proprietary Software-
The key difference between proprietary software and FOSS is the availability of the source code. Proprietary or commercial software like Microsoft Windows and Adobe Photoshop are not available to end-users as source code where free software like the Linux kernel and open-source software such as Google Chromium (the basis of the Chrome web browser) are available as source code through their respective licenses.
Why does Open-source software matter?
Open-source software matters to everyone, not just programmers because it unlocks the potential of many more people to become innovators than a closed-source (proprietary Software) model. Open source communities, for instance, are organized around open source projects where anyone with skills can join and contribute code. These groups still maintain standards around contributing to open source projects just like proprietary software teams do but they open up this process to anyone in the world who wants to contribute.
This open-source development model has resulted in some of the most important applications and cloud platforms in use today. The most popular of which comprise LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), a model of service stacks that undergird much of the web.
Brief about LAMP-
Linux- is an open-source Operating System (OS) and the largest open source project in the world.
Apache- is an open-source cross-platform web server that played a key role in the early web.
MySQL- is an open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) used by many database-driven web applications.
PHP- a general purpose scripting language used in software development (Perl or Python languages are sometimes substituted).
Other examples of popular open source technologies include the Android mobile OS, the Mozilla Firefox web browser, the widely-used version control system Git, and the two related office suites OpenOffice and LibreOffice. On a broader scale, most innovation in the areas of cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence have been derived from open-source software projects.
Open-source software has other advantages for businesses and individual programmers. When source code is open, it makes it easier for anyone to study it to develop new programming skills. Open-source licensing also allows students to get practice by editing the code and sharing it with friends and the broader open-source community, or even contributing fixes to existing open source projects. The open-source software also offers businesses the ability to customize it to meet their specific needs.
SourceForge (https://sourceforge.net)-
SourceForge is an Open-Source software community resource dedicated to helping open-source projects as successful as possible. It helps to create a premiere resource for open-source software development and distribution.
With the tools it provides, developers on SourceForge create powerful software in over 502,000 projects and host millions of registered users. It also connects more than 32 million monthly users with all of these open source projects and serves more than 2.6 million downloads a day. The SourceForge business software directory lists over 50,000 software titles. IT professionals come to SourceForge to develop, download, review and publish open source, and business software. SourceForge is the largest, most trusted destination for Open Source Software discovery, software reviews, and software development on the web.