Open source
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Open Source software is software where the source code--the language programmers use to make computers do their jobs--is available to everyone. Anyone can see how the code works and can change it if they want to make it work differently. The opposite of open source is closed source, where the source is not available to everyone.
Open Source has been around for decades, but it became popular with Linux and BSD software communities. To protect the code, a special license is used. The most common kinds of licence are the GPL, BSD and LGPL. Wikipedia uses open source too. The Open Source Movement is led by the Open Source Initiative. The open source movement split off from the Free software movement in 1998. The Free Software movement is led by the Free Software Foundation.
