Open Source (OS) refers to a set of principles and practices governing how to write and distribute software. The most significant feature of this set of principles is that the source code of any software product is openly available and accessible to other software developers. Products that are open source generally abide by a set of open source principles and they are distributed any one OSI approved licenses, although the most common that you will see are:
Open source alternatives allow small businesses, institutions, and individuals to utilize increasing numerous software tools and solutions while reducing monetary overhead. In many, cases open source alternatives are as good as or even better than proprietary commercial products. Or, if they are not better, they at least provide a satisfactory alternative until you can afford better. For instance, while Dreamweaver still sets the standard for HTML editors, a full suite of commercial web design applications is expensive. But there are good alternatives such as Aptana Studio and Nvu. This is true of most software product types:
For more information on Open Source, what it is, how it works, and the pros & cons, please consult the Open Source FAQ.
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