OPEN SOURCE PRODUCTS



Open Source Products



Abstract

The paper discusses the various types of open source products in detail. The paper discusses the benefits and pitfalls for different types of organisation of adopting open source products. Open source software (OSS) is computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms. It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of open source development and often compared to user-generated content. The term open source software originated as part of a marketing campaign for free software. A report by Standish Group states that adoption of open source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion per year to consumer. The paper also considers the emergence of open standards, and comment upon the impact this is expected to have in the future. The Open Source Definition, notably, presents an open source philosophy, and further defines the terms of usage, modification and redistribution of open source software. Software licenses grant rights to users which would otherwise be reserved by copyright law to the copyright holder. Several open source software licenses have qualified within the boundaries of the Open Source Definition. The most prominent and popular example is the GNU General Public License (GPL). While open source distribution presents a way to make the source codes of a product publicly accessible, the open source licenses allow the authors to fine tune such access. The paper also explores include a consideration of emerging standards in information exchange, the ownership of those standards, and their integration with existing and legacy systems.

Open Source Products

Introduction

In general, Open Source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. Open Source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available to a group or network that further develop and improve the original software voluntarily on the network. The Open Source movement has gained momentum as commercial enterprises have adopted Linux as the primary option operating system. (Berry, 2008)

Types of open source products

Linux

Why it is a success: Linux, hand in hand with GNU software as GNU/Linux, has come a long way since Linus Torvalds announced that he was creating an OS kernel based on Minix back in 1991. These days, a majority of web servers run Linux, and with Ubuntu (see below) it is also (finally) starting to make inroads into the desktop market, and maybe it will soon also be strong player in the mobile market with Android (which uses the Linux kernel). (Weber, 2005)

Ubuntu

Why it is a success: Launched in 2004, Ubuntu is by far the most popular Linux distribution today, especially on the desktop ...