What Is Open Source Software? Explained In 200 Words

“Open Source Software” (OSS) is publicly accessible software that anyone can use, modify, and improve as per requirement.

More than half of the enterprises are using open-source software to meet their digital transformation goals.

It’s developed in a decentralized and collaborative manner with the help of the community.

Anyone can use this software for any purpose without any restrictions. The original authors of the software make source code publicly available under several open-source licenses.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) was established in February 1998.

It has played a major role in the growing usage of technologies by promoting innovation, learning, and easy exchange of ideas through open sharing of code. Companies like Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Google, Oracle have supported this initiative by making their important projects open-source.

It’s in contrast to proprietary or closed sourced projects where modification is not allowed and source code is not accessible.

Popular examples of OSS are Firefox, MySQL, Linux, Apache, OpenOffice, PHP, and many more.

Advantages:

• Free software, no costs to use
• Easy integration, customization, and development as per requirement
• High-quality, scalable, and secure
• Flexible and adaptable

It’s hugely beneficial to businesses as it increases innovation, efficiency, and quality.