Free/open source software (F/OSS) is software for which the human-readable source code is made available to the user of the software, who can then modify the code in order to fit the software to the user’s needs. The source code is the set of written instructions that define a program in its original form, and when it’s made fully accessible programmers can read it, modify it, and redistribute it, thereby improving and adapting the software. In this manner the software evolves at a rate unmatched by traditional proprietary software.
For many years free/open source software has been building momentum. Beginning amidst the technical cultures that produced the Internet and World Wide Web, it is now causing quite a stir in the commercial world as large software corporations are finding themselves competing against commercially available open source software.
information. This new demand for free and open source software has piqued interest among scholars in disciplines ranging from sociology to economics to social psychology, and has raised questions in fields of application ranging from innovation processes to strategic management. The online papers archives represents the latest thinking and current happenings.
posted by Marcus Zillman |
7:27 AM
