History of Computers - Open-Source Software
Open-Source Software (OSS)
Open-Source Software is a crowd sourced method of coding software. As is implied by the name, open source connects a worldwide community of organizations to individual developers, allowing for those familiar with the source code to collaborate and cultivate new and better ways to code. Unlike closed, proprietary code, OSS can be altered and improved by any developer and can lead to long-term viability.
Overview
Created in a strategy session on 2/3/1998 in Palo Alto, California, OSS is a computer software technique made with a license whose copyright holder allows for anyone to "study, change, and distribute." [1] By allowing anyone to take a look at the source code, OSS encourages collaboration and volunteerism and increases the scope of the design perspective for the company over a long period of time. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote OSS. By drafting the Open Source Definition (OSD), OSI began to use its definition to create lists of OSI-approved licenses and provide programmers with legitimate codes to tinker with. [2] Of the benefits of OSS, the main that have been highlighted are: -Security -Affordability -Transparency -Perpetuity -Interoperability -Flexibility -Localization
Significance
OSS is significant to the history of computers because the method results in a nearly infinite peer review process that allows a variety of different approaches to the same source code. [3] Essentially, people can continually make adjustments and improvements to the original piece of software, which is valuable in a fast-moving industry where new ideas and codes change the way the world works. Large programs like Uber to smaller ones like Adblock Plus utilize open-source software to build their applications and many new companies are beginning to hire open-source coders to stay in-touch with the newest ideas and stay ahead of the curve.
