Editing Open-source software (section)

== Comparisons with other software licensing/development models ==

=== Closed source / proprietary software ===
{{Main|Comparison of open-source and closed-source software}}

Open source software differs from proprietary software in that it is publicly available, the license requires no fees, modifications and distributions are allowed under license specifications.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhu |first1=Kevin Xiaoguo |last2=Zhou |first2=Zach Zhizhong |date=2012 |title=Research Note —Lock-In Strategy in Software Competition: Open-Source Software vs. Proprietary Software |url=https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/isre.1110.0358 |journal=Information Systems Research |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=536–545 |doi=10.1287/isre.1110.0358 |issn=1047-7047|url-access=subscription }}</ref> All of this works to prevent a monopoly on any OSS product, which is a goal of proprietary software.<ref name=":22" /> Proprietary software limits their customers' choices to either committing to using that software, upgrading it or switching to other software, forcing customers to have their software preferences impacted by their monetary cost.<ref name=":22" /> The ideal case scenario for the proprietary software vendor would be a [[Vendor lock-in|lock-in]], where the customer does not or cannot switch software due to these costs and continues to buy products from that vendor.<ref name=":22" />

Within proprietary software, bug fixes can only be provided by the vendor, moving platforms requires another purchase and the existence of the product relies on the vendor, who can discontinue it at any point.<ref name=":3"/> Additionally, proprietary software does not provide its source code and cannot be altered by users.<ref name=":24" /> For businesses, this can pose a security risk and source of frustration, as they cannot specialize the product to their needs, and there may be hidden threats or information leaks within the software that they cannot access or change.<ref name=":24" />

=== Free software ===
{{Main|Alternative terms for free software}}
{{See also|Comparison of free and open-source software licenses}}

Under OSI's definition, open source is a broad software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent restrictions on the use and modification of the code.<ref name=":17">{{Cite web |date=2006-07-24 |title=The Open Source Definition (Annotated) |url=https://opensource.org/definition-annotated/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Open Source Initiative |language=en-US}}</ref> It is an explicit feature of open source that it puts very few restrictions on the use or distribution by any organization or user, in order to enable the rapid evolution of the software.<ref name=":17" />

[[Richard Stallman]], leader of the Free software movement and member of the free software foundation opposes the term open source being applied to what they refer to as free software.<ref name=":19" /> Although he agrees that the two terms describe almost the same category of software, Stallman considers equating the terms incorrect and misleading.<ref name=":19" />  He believes that the main difference is that by choosing one term over the other lets others know about what one's goals are: development (open source) or a social stance (free software).<ref name=":20">{{Cite book |last1=Stallman |first1=Richard M. |title=Free software, free society |last2=Gay |first2=Joshua |date=2002 |publisher=Free software foundation |isbn=978-1-882114-98-6 |location=Boston (Mass.)}}</ref> Nevertheless, there is significant overlap between open source software and free software.<ref name=":19" /> Stallman also opposes the professed pragmatism of the [[Open Source Initiative]], as he fears that the free software ideals of freedom and community are threatened by compromising on the FSF's idealistic standards for software freedom.<ref name=":20" /> The FSF considers free software to be a [[subset]] of open-source software, and Richard Stallman explained that [[Digital rights management|DRM]] software, for example, can be developed as open source, despite how it restricts its users, and thus does not qualify as free software.<ref name=":19" />

The FSF said that the term open source fosters an ambiguity of a different kind such that it confuses the mere availability of the source with the freedom to use, modify, and redistribute it.<ref name=":19" /> On the other hand, the term free software was criticized for the ambiguity of the word free, which was seen as discouraging for business adoption, and for the historical ambiguous usage of the term.<ref name=":20" />

Developers have used the [[alternative terms for free software|alternative terms]] ''Free and Open Source Software'' ([[FOSS]]), or ''Free/Libre and Open Source Software'' (FLOSS), consequently, to describe open-source software that is also [[free software]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Brasseur |first=V. M. |title=Forge your future with open source: build your skills, build your network, build the future of technology |date=2018 |publisher=The Pragmatic Bookshelf |isbn=978-1-68050-301-2 |series=The pragmatic programmers |location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}</ref>

=== Source-available software ===
{{Main|Source-available software}}

Software can be distributed with [[source code]], which is a code that is readable.<ref name=":26">{{Cite journal |last1=Fortunato |first1=Laura |last2=Galassi |first2=Mark |date=2021-05-17 |title=The case for free and open source software in research and scholarship |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2020.0079 |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |language=en |volume=379 |issue=2197 |doi=10.1098/rsta.2020.0079 |pmid=33775148 |bibcode=2021RSPTA.37900079F |s2cid=232387092 |issn=1364-503X}}</ref> Software is [[source-available software|source available]] when this source code is available to be seen.<ref name=":26" /> However to be source available or [[Free and open-source software|FOSS]], the source code does not need to be accessible to all, just the users of that software.<ref name=":26" /> While all FOSS software is source available because this is a requirement made by the [[The Open Source Definition|Open Source Definition]], not all source available software is FOSS.<ref name=":26" /> For example, if the software does not meet other aspects of the Open Source Definition such as permitted modification or redistribution, even if the source code is available, the software is not FOSS.<ref name=":26" />

=== Open-sourcing ===
A recent trend within software companies is open sourcing, or transitioning their previous [[proprietary software]] into open source software through releasing it under an [[open-source license]].<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last1=Pinto |first1=Gustavo |last2=Steinmacher |first2=Igor |last3=Dias |first3=Luiz Felipe |last4=Gerosa |first4=Marco |date=2018 |title=On the challenges of open-sourcing proprietary software projects |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10664-018-9609-6 |journal=Empirical Software Engineering |language=en |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=3221–3247 |doi=10.1007/s10664-018-9609-6 |s2cid=254467440 |issn=1382-3256|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":25">{{Cite journal |last1=Ågerfalk |last2=Fitzgerald |date=2008 |title=Outsourcing to an Unknown Workforce: Exploring Opensurcing as a Global Sourcing Strategy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25148845 |journal=MIS Quarterly |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=385 |doi=10.2307/25148845 |jstor=25148845 |issn=0276-7783|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Examples of companies who have done this are Google, Microsoft and Apple.<ref name=":23" /> Additionally, open sourcing can refer to programming open source software or installing open source software.<ref name=":25" /> Open sourcing can be beneficial in multiple ways, such as attracting more external contributors who bring new perspectives and problem solving capabilities.<ref name=":23" /> The downsides of open sourcing include the work that has to be done to maintaining the new community, such as making the base code easily understandable, setting up communication channels for new developers and creating documentation to allow new developers to easily join.<ref name=":23" /> However, a review of several open sourced projects found that although a newly open sourced project attracts many newcomers, a great amount are likely to soon leave the project and their forks are also likely to not be impactful.<ref name=":23" />

=== Other ===
Other concepts that may share some similarities to open source are [[shareware]], [[Public-domain software|public domain software]], [[freeware]], and software viewers/readers that are freely available but do not provide source code.<ref name=":24" /> However, these differ from open source software in access to [[source code]], licensing, copyright and fees.<ref name=":24" />