Advantages of open source software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Advantages of open source software - Essay Example Today open source software has become critical for almost every organization.Almost everything requires open source software,be it telecommunication systems,inventory, accounting,personal productivity applications,contact management and operating systems amongst others.As far as the democracy peace and economy is concerned open software provides access to better technology to even those who cannot afford them. Since, technology is crucial to the economy in terms of the cost it saves by increasing the end productivity; the better access to technology has increased the productivity and thus the GDP of the entire world. Even cheaper technology is the success of most of the developing countries. The growth of the developing countries has provided better returns for the companies across the globe in-turn because they now have been able to easily get some part of their business outsourced to these destinations and decrease costs. This has lead to employing further more people and improving the technology further helping people across the world.The source code should be available with the software and distribution in terms of the compiled form should also be available. There should be a well publicized form of distributing the software just like distributing on the internet when the product is not distributed with the source code.There should be permission by the license for the distribution of software which is made from modified source code. The license needs to have derived works for having a distinct name or version number. 5. No Discrimination against Persons or Groups The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. It should be accessible to whoever wants. 6. No Discrimination against Fields of Endeavor The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a profit generation entity, or from being used for genetic research. 7. Distribution of License The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties. 8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution. 9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software. 10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. Following are the examples of open source software2: Linux (http://www.linux.org/): Originating from UNIX system and basically an operating system and kernel.