Open source software: Difference between revisions

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imported>Christian Grobmeier
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imported>Eric M Gearhart
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Open Source Software is software with accessible source code. Quite often the term Open Source describes also software which is free of charge, but this is not a must. This kind of software is considered as very welltested and stable, cause everybody can identify and fix [[bugs]]. In most cases several developer are working on one or more projects, sometimes even  more. An Open Source project can be tested and used by thousands of users, for example the [[Apache HTTP Server]] is beeing used for the most webservers worldwide.
'''Open source software''' broadly speaking is software that is licensed in such a way that the source code (which is the [[language]] that [[computer programs]] are written in) is freely accessible.


Serveral Organization support the Open Source Community and give them infrastructure and sometimes support in law.
The term usually describes software that is also free of charge, but this is not a must.  


===Wellknown organizations===
An Open Source project can be tested and used by thousands of users, for example the [[Apache HTTP Server]] is the most wiedly used [[World Wide Web]] [[server]] on the [[internet]].<ref name=Netcraft>{{cite web
| url=http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/04/02/april_2007_web_server_survey.html
| title="April 2007 Web Server Survey"
}}</ref>
 
===Well Known Organizations===
Several professional organizations support the Open Source community, in a moral sense as well as in Legal matters (e.g. enforcing the licensing of Open Source software). Here is a short list:
* [[Free Software Foundation]]
* [[Free Software Foundation]]
* [[Apache Software Foundation]]
* [[Apache Software Foundation]]
* [[RedHat]]
* [[RedHat]]
==References==
<references/>


===See also===
===See also===
* [http://opensource.org/ Open Source]
* [http://opensource.org/ Open Source]
* [http://apache.org/ Apache Software Foundation]
* [http://apache.org/ The Apache Software Foundation homepage]
* [http://fsf.org/ Free Software Foundation]
* [http://fsf.org/ The Free Software Foundation homepage]
* [http://redhat.com/ Free Software Foundation]
* [http://redhat.com/ Commercial, for-profit company that uses Open Source software extensively]


[[Category:CZ Live]]
[[Category:Computers Workgroup]]
[[Category:Computers Workgroup]]

Revision as of 08:37, 5 April 2007

Open source software broadly speaking is software that is licensed in such a way that the source code (which is the language that computer programs are written in) is freely accessible.

The term usually describes software that is also free of charge, but this is not a must.

An Open Source project can be tested and used by thousands of users, for example the Apache HTTP Server is the most wiedly used World Wide Web server on the internet.[1]

Well Known Organizations

Several professional organizations support the Open Source community, in a moral sense as well as in Legal matters (e.g. enforcing the licensing of Open Source software). Here is a short list:

References

See also