Free and open-source software

Free and open-source software, often called FOSS, is a type of software that lets anyone use, share, change, and distribute it. This includes both the original version and any changes people make. Unlike regular software that you buy and can’t change, FOSS gives everyone the right to see and work with the inner workings of the program. This openness comes from ideas about freedom and sharing in technology.

FOSS started from older ideas of sharing software in the 1960s and 1980s. Today, many important systems like Linux distributions and BSD are FOSS. They help run servers, computers, phones, and many other devices. People choose FOSS because it can save money, keep information safe, and let users control their own technology.

There are groups and communities that support FOSS. They believe in sharing and working together, even if they don’t always agree on every detail. These groups help make and spread FOSS around the world.

Overview

Further information: Alternative terms for free software

Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term that includes both free software and open-source software. It means that anyone can use, change, and share software however they want, without having to pay extra fees.

Free software focuses on freedom. It lets people run the program for any reason, see and change how it works, share copies with others, and share their own changes. Open-source software is about making the program's code available so others can see it. Both ideas work together, but they started from different thoughts about what matters most in software.

History

Main article: History of free and open-source software

In the early days of computers, from the 1950s to the 1970s, people often worked together to create software. They shared the instructions for their programs so others could use and change them. Most companies made money by selling hardware and gave away their software for free.

Later, companies began selling software separately and started keeping the instructions secret. This changed in 1983 when Richard Stallman started the GNU Project at MIT. He wanted to create a complete system that gave users control over their software. In 1991, Linus Torvalds released the Linux kernel, which helped make a fully free operating system possible.

In 1998, some developers began using the term "Open Source" to describe free software, focusing on how it could help businesses work together. Even though some companies were unsure at first, many later saw that free and open-source software could be successful and useful.

Usage

Users of free and open-source software (FOSS) have the freedom to use, study, change, and share software however they like. This means they can adjust the software to fit their needs and even share their changes with others. Unlike some other types of software, FOSS lets people see and check the code themselves, which can help keep things safe and fair. It often costs nothing, allowing more people to try and compare different tools.

While FOSS has many benefits, it can sometimes be harder to get support or make sure it works with other tools. Also, because it relies on volunteers, there might be fewer features or slower updates than with software made by companies. However, many governments and big groups around the world use FOSS because it gives them control and can be more reliable.

Governmental adoption of free and open-source software by country
Country	Description
Argentina	The government of Argentina launched the program Conectar Igualdad (Connect Equality), through ANSES and the Ministry of Education (Argentina) launched during the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, that gave kids on public schools free laptops to use for educative purposes. By default, it came with Huayra GNU/Linux, a free and open-source Linux operating system developed by the Argentinian technology ministry, based on Debian, using the MATE Desktop.
Austria	In 2005, Vienna migrated from Microsoft Office 2000 to OpenOffice.org and from Microsoft Windows 2000 to Linux.
Brazil	In 2006, the Brazilian government has simultaneously encouraged the distribution of cheap computers running Linux throughout its poorer communities by subsidizing their purchase with tax breaks.
Canada	In 2017, the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, opened up most of its new internal software development efforts to reduce its own software costs, and increase collaboration with other municipalities looking to solve similar problems.
Ecuador	In April 2008, Ecuador passed a similar law, Decree 1014, designed to migrate the public sector to Libre Software.
France	In March 2009, the French Gendarmerie Nationale announced it will totally switch to Ubuntu by 2015. The Gendarmerie began its transition to open source software in 2005 when it replaced Microsoft Office with OpenOffice.org across the entire organization. In September 2012, the French Prime Minister laid down a set of action-oriented recommendations about using open-source in the French public administration. These recommendations are published in a document based on the works of an inter-ministerial group of experts. This document promotes some orientations like establishing an actual convergence on open-source stubs, activating a network of expertise about converging stubs, improving the support of open-source software, contributing to selected stubs, following the big communities, spreading alternatives to the main commercial solutions, tracing the use of open-source and its effects, developing the culture of use of the open-source licenses in the developments of public information systems. One of the aim of this experts groups is also to establish lists of recommended open-source software to use in the French public administration.
Germany	In the German City of Munich, conversion of 15,000 PCs and laptops from Microsoft Windows-based operating systems to a Debian-based Linux environment called LiMux spanned the ten years of 2003 to 2013. After successful completion of the project, more than 80% of all computers were running Linux. On November 13, 2017, The Register reported that Munich was planning to revert to Windows 10 by 2020. But in 2020, Munich decided to shift back from Microsoft to Linux again. In 2022 Germany launched Open CoDE, its own FOSS repository and forum.
India	The Government of Kerala, India, announced its official support for free and open-source software in its State IT Policy of 2001, which was formulated after the first-ever Free software conference in India, Freedom First!, held in July 2001 in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. In 2009, Government of Kerala started the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS). In March 2015 the Indian government announced a policy on adoption of FOSS.
Italy	The Italian military is transitioning to LibreOffice and the OpenDocument Format (ODF). LibreItalia Association announced on September 15, 2015, that the Ministry of Defence would over the next year-and-a-half install this suite of office productivity tools on some 150,000 PC workstations, making it Europe's second-largest LibreOffice implementation. By June 23, 2016, 6,000 stations have been migrated. E-learning military platform.
Jordan	In January 2010, the Government of Jordan announced a partnership with Ingres Corporation (now named Actian), an open-source database-management company based in the United States, to promote open-source software use, starting with university systems in Jordan.
Malaysia	Malaysia launched the "Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Program", saving millions on proprietary software licenses until 2008.
Peru	In 2005, the Government of Peru voted to adopt open source across all its bodies. The 2002 response to Microsoft's critique is available online. In the preamble to the bill, the Peruvian government stressed that the choice was made to ensure that key pillars of democracy were safeguarded: "The basic principles which inspire the Bill are linked to the basic guarantees of a state of law."
Portugal	In 2000, the Portuguese Vieira do Minho Municipality began switching to free and open-source software.
Romania	IOSSPL is a free and open source software used for public libraries in Romania.
Spain	In 2017, The City of Barcelona started to migrate its computer systems away from the Windows platform. The city's strategy was first to replace all user applications with open-source alternatives, until the underlying Windows operating system is the only proprietary software remaining. In a final step, the operating system replaced with Linux.
Uganda	In September 2014, the Uganda National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) announced a call for feedback on an Open Source Strategy & Policy at a workshop in conjunction with the ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU).
United States	In February 2009, the White House moved its website to Linux servers using Drupal for content management. In August 2016, the United States government announced a new federal source code policy which mandates that at least 20% of custom source code developed by or for any agency of the federal government be released as open-source software (OSS). In addition, the policy requires that all source code be shared strictly between agencies. The public release is under a three-year pilot program and agencies are obliged to collect data on this pilot to gauge its performance. The overall policy aims to reduce duplication, avoid vendor 'lock-in', and stimulate collaborative development. The website code.gov provides "an online collection of tools, best practices, and schemas to help agencies implement this policy", the policy announcement stated. It also provides the "primary discoverability portal for custom-developed software intended both for Government-wide reuse and for release as OSS". As yet unspecified OSS licenses will be added to the code.
Venezuela	In 2004, a law in Venezuela (Decree 3390) went into effect, mandating a two-year transition to open source in all public agencies. As of June 2009, the transition was still under way.

Production

Open-source software development is how open-source software is made. The code for these programs is available for anyone to use, change, and improve. Popular examples include Mozilla Firefox, Android, and VLC media player. This development style is different from traditional methods, often starting with early releases and involving the community. Developers usually communicate through emails, wikis, web forums, and instant messaging, since they often work from different places. Tools like Git help make it easier for many people to work together on the code.

Issues and incidents

GPLv3 controversy

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a very popular license used in free and open-source software. Version 2, released in 1991, helped protect users' freedom to use, change, and share software. But as new technologies like Digital Rights Management and software patents appeared, some thought GPLv2 didn’t protect users well enough. This led to GPL version 3 in 2007.

GPLv3 was created to fix problems like Tivoization, where a company used GPL software but added hardware restrictions to stop users from changing the software. GPLv3 also tried to protect users from unfair patent claims. Many projects updated to GPLv3, but others, like the Linux kernel, chose not to. Some people liked GPLv3 for better protection, while others thought it was too complicated.

Skewed prioritization, ineffectiveness and egoism of developers

Some critics say that skilled developers sometimes focus on creating new software instead of fixing problems in existing popular programs. They also point out that some computer makers only make private fixes for their products instead of helping solve bigger issues.

Commercial ownership of open-source software

Big companies buying other companies has changed some open-source software. For example, Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in 2010, which owned the popular MySQL database. This made some people worried, so they created new databases like MariaDB, Percona, and Drizzle.

Legal cases

Oracle v. Google

In 2010, Oracle sued Google for using Java in Android. In 2012, a court decided Google did not break Oracle’s patents, but did use some small parts of Java’s files. However, Google did not have to pay any money. Both companies then appealed the decision.

Main article: Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.

Economics

Main article: Open source

Free and open-source software challenges normal rules about owning and using information. This helps fight against ideas that everything should be private or for profit.

By showing how much we can share in the digital world, free and open-source software offers ideas for big changes in how we think about money and ownership. Experts like Yochai Benkler point to many free and open-source projects as examples of this new way of working together.