Editing Open-source software (section)

=== 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" />