Editing Open-source software (section)

=== 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" />