Open source vs. closed source

Software that is open source:

• Has source code that is legally available to end users without any additional cost.

• Allows users to make any changes to the software that they want.

• Includes the conditions to follow for repurposing and redistributing the source code so that it remains open source.

This is very different from closed source software, which is:

• Highly guarded and only legally accessible to a retricted set of users.

• Only available for end users, not for modification or redistribution.

The open source concept started as a classification of software based on its license, which we’ll cover next.