Open Source Software

The Misunderstanding

Many users of open source software or (OSS) for short (if you're reading this with Firefox then you're using open source software) do not understand the main point of the software it's not free, as in price it's free as in freedom. This means it's not about what price you pay for the software, it's about having the power over the software that you might pay for and really do what you want with it.

The Goal

The mission of OSS comes from giving control back to the user of it. You can look into the code and fix, add or remove things that you feel will benefit your use of the software. Now this may not directly apply to everyone that uses the software. The main goal is to give the freedom to use the software the way that fits your purpose.

The Power

Like I said before about having the power to do what you want with the software if it is open source, many businesses are taking advantage of this. From editing the way the current open source software is designed to just forking (taking a current copy of the source code and start independent development of it). A example of this is how LibreOffice forked then developed on its own from OpenOffice.