Open source

There is much more to the term ‘open source’ than just software that is ac­cess­ible by the public and can be viewed, copied, or exchanged by and between third parties. Over the last decades, open source has developed into a mode of working and a movement for col­lect­ive problem-solving. Due to the de­cent­ral­ised pro­duc­tion model, however, open source software is reliant on peer review (an in­de­pend­ent process for quality assurance) and input from pro­gram­ming com­munit­ies. This col­lab­or­a­tion is one of the main char­ac­ter­ist­ics of ‘open software’. This article provides a precise defin­i­tion of open source and a clear dis­tinc­tion between free, open, and closed software.

Open source ori­gin­ates from the term ‘open source software’, or OSS for short. With this type of software, the source code is freely ac­cess­ible. Pro­gram­mers and users can change and share it. Compared to pro­pri­et­ary software, open source products are more flexible and cheaper to purchase. Open source software does not belong to any in­di­vidu­al or company. A large developer community maintains the code and con­tinu­ously improves it through col­lect­ive input. Sometimes, or­gan­isa­tions and companies join forces on open source projects to save de­vel­op­ment costs.

This software de­vel­op­ment process is far from new: In fact, open source is as old as the Internet itself. In the 1950s and 1960s, the first tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions network protocols were developed in an open en­vir­on­ment. The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which laid the found­a­tion for the modern Internet, was based on col­lab­or­a­tion and peer review, much like today’s open source software. Hacker movements of the 1970s and the free software movement of the 1980s strengthened the idea of a free knowledge exchange in software de­vel­op­ment. Today, open source describes not only an ‘open software’, but also a col­lab­or­at­ive attitude in the IT world.

Before open source caught on, publicly ac­cess­ible software models were referred to as ‘free software’. This can be traced back to the GNU project. GNU is an operating system that emerged during the free software movement to allow end users maximum freedom in using source code. ‘Free software’ stood in direct contrast to pro­pri­et­ary or ‘closed software’ where only the re­gistered owner (company) is legally permitted to access the source code and can change or share it. Users can only use the software for its intended purpose and upon payment.

However, the term ‘free software’ caused confusion. The word ‘free’ means not only open, but also free of charge. However, free was meant to describe that software could be accessed by anyone and not that it was free of charge. As with Creative Commons, not ‘everything is allowed’ when it comes to open source software: There are certain con­di­tions linked to its use. To steer the focus away from the com­mer­cial idea toward free use, the Foresight Institute coined the term ‘open source’ in 1998.

During the early stages, companies were sceptical of the use of open source software. On the one hand, they feared becoming vul­ner­able under license laws and, on the other hand, they worried about dis­clos­ing parts of their pro­pri­et­ary software. The majority of these fears have now dis­ap­peared, and many large companies rely on open source solutions. To be able to integrate the broadest possible developer base worldwide, different licensing models have been developed. The majority of the pro­vi­sions relate to user ob­lig­a­tions in regard to the doc­u­ment­a­tion and dis­clos­ure of the use of open source projects.

Before you make use of open source com­pon­ents, it is advisable to check the licenses under which they are made available. To avoid legal problems, it is important to use in­di­vidu­al com­pon­ents ex­clus­ively in ac­cord­ance with the license con­di­tions and to ensure that their use is doc­u­mented. If asked, you must be able to openly present your tools and source codes. Developer platforms such as GitHub, which is commonly used to manage software de­vel­op­ment projects, and licensing tools make the legally compliant handling of open source software much easier. A so-called ‘software parts list’ can be created to keep track of the licenses of the software com­pon­ents you use.

The majority of Internet users regularly use software that is dis­trib­uted under an open source licensing model without realising it. Below are three suc­cess­ful open source projects that are world-famous and have sig­ni­fic­antly in­flu­enced the OS movement.

PHP: The scripting language was developed to create dynamic web pages. Since its first pub­lic­a­tion in 1995, it has been one of the most widely used web pro­gram­ming languages worldwide. PHP offers ap­plic­a­tions such as Slack or Spotify a high level of flex­ib­il­ity when it comes to database support and Internet protocol in­teg­ra­tion.

Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla Firefox is a freely con­fig­ur­able browser that offers a huge selection of plug-ins and is one of the three most used web clients worldwide. It was launched in 2002, and its open concept caused big waves among the tech industry. According to US news site CNET, Mozilla Firefox played a central role in the spread of open source.

WordPress: The free content man­age­ment system WordPress has been around since 2003. Ever since, the project has been con­tinu­ously expanded. WordPress is based on the open source pro­gram­ming language PHP and was ori­gin­ally developed to create and manage blogs. With the in­teg­ra­tion of external plug-ins, the CMS now offers users ef­fort­less con­fig­ur­a­tion options. Today WordPress is one of the most popular and most used content man­age­ment systems worldwide.

There are numerous arguments in favour of using open source software. However, there are some risks as­so­ci­ated with their use, which you should be aware of before using them. Consider the following ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages of open source to see if the software model is suitable for you.

Ad­vant­ages:

• Low costs: Source code of open source software is provided free of charge in most cases, drastic­ally reducing its ac­quis­i­tion costs.
• Re­li­ab­il­ity: Because an entire developer community is working to improve the product means it is more reliable than pro­pri­et­ary software.
• Longevity: Open source software is per­sist­ent because it is not tied to the success of a single provider whose services would be lost if their business was dissolved.
• Security: The developer community re­cog­nises and fixes bugs and security threats as soon as they appear.
• Flex­ib­il­ity: Open source gives users a high degree of flex­ib­il­ity so that the software can be adapted to their own needs without the consent of a provider.

Dis­ad­vant­ages:

• Long-term costs: With open source projects, certain follow-up costs may arise, for example, having to train employees or troubleshoot ex­tern­ally.
• Support: While customer services such as troubleshoot­ing are included with pro­pri­et­ary software, OSS users have no direct contact.
• Ease of use: Open source software is aimed at de­velopers and requires a certain technical un­der­stand­ing for con­fig­ur­a­tion.
• Shutdown: Although most open source projects are long-lived, there are times when a project loses the attention of the developer community.
• Security: Generally, the use of open source projects is safe. Nev­er­the­less, it should be noted that the software is often created in an un­con­trolled en­vir­on­ment in which malware could be more easily in­teg­rated.