THE TERM open source software (OSS) may not be familiar to everyone - but you’d have had to be hiding under a rock over the past few years to have not heard about Linux, the operating system that’s made massive inroads into the corporate computing space and, thanks to the efforts of people such as Mark Shuttleworth, is also penetrating the desktop market.

Though Linux is the most famous piece of OSS, it’s by no means the only one. There are literally thousands of computer programs out there that fall under the open source banner, some from large companies like Sun and IBM and others from small companies you’re never likely to hear of. The difference between OSS and software from a company such as Microsoft - called proprietary software - is that with OSS the licence to use the software allows people to freely distribute it and compels the company writing the program to provide not only the software but also the original code that makes up the program.  Imagine having your wedding photographs taken but having to go back to the photographer each time you wanted a reprint and being charged five times the cost of the print for the service. While you’d like to go to a cheaper option you can’t, because the photographer is the only person with access to the pictures. 

That does in fact happen. But it shouldn’t, because you paid for a service, having the software written or the photographs taken, yet you’re held hostage by the original service provider. While OSS isn’t always free, it does give its users the opportunity to do with it as they please and not be restricted by the rules imposed by the company that originally created the software.