What is open source software?

Open source software (OSS) is source code developed and maintained through open collaboration. Anyone can use, examine, alter and redistribute OSS as they see fit, typically at no cost.Open source contrasts with proprietary or closed source software applications such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Illustrator. The creator or copyright holder sells the proprietary or closed source software to end users, who are not allowed to edit, enhance or redistribute the product except as specified by the copyright holder.

Until the mid-1970s, IT professionals viewed computer code as implicit in the operation of computer hardware and not unique intellectual property subject to copyright protection. Organizations programmed their own software, and code sharing was a common practice.
The Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works was established in 1974. It concluded that software code was a category of creative work suitable for copyright protection. This development fueled the growth of independent software publishing as an industry, with proprietary source code as the primary source of revenue. As personal computing brought applications to every corporate desk and many households, the market for software became intensely competitive. Software publishers also became increasingly alert to infringements of their property rights.

How programmers create open source software?

The open source development model encompasses the full range. A vast number of open source programs have originated from solo programmers or small teams of programmers. For example, Guido van Rossum said that he started working on the popular Python programming language because he had free time over the December holiday week in 1989. Similarly, LinkedIn developed the distributed streaming platform Apache Kafka for internal use and then, open-sourced and donated Kafka to the Apache Software Foundation.
As these and other open source projects like them have matured, they have involved thousands of programmers contributing countless lines of code—testing the software, writing documentation, building the project website and more.
At the other end of the spectrum, Google engineers initiated the Kubernetes container orchestration platform as an open source implementation of technology created internally to balance Google’s server workloads. Google brought the project to the open source community through the creation of a new consortium within the Linux Foundation called the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Since then, thousands of developers have worked on the evolving kernel, including representatives of major computer companies.
Over time, an ecosystem must support open source software projects. Code hosting services such as GitHub, Bitbucket, SourceForge and Google Code provide central repositories, version control and other functions that enable diverse, distributed workgroups to collaborate on and manage open source projects. In a 2023 report, GitHub had registered 100 million developers using its product.
Some nonprofit organizations, such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative (OCI), have emerged to support and fund the ongoing maintenance of open source projects. Also, many dozens of application-specific foundations, such as the Linux Foundation, support specific open source programs and related projects that support those technologies.

Still worried about future of open source implementation?

Free and open software have transformed the tech industry. But we still have a lot to work out to make them healthy, equitable enterprises.