eBCVG: Surveying the Open Source Landscape

[ Thanks to MarekB for this link. ]

"It is easy to see the impact that open source software has had on the developer community. A Google search for 'open source' turns up over nineteen million results. That's more than a similar search for 'Oracle,' and nearly one-fifth as many as for 'Microsoft,' the king of proprietary software. This article will describe what open-source software is, and examine a few of the products that are out there on the open-source landscape.

"According to the Open Source Initiative, http://www.opensource.org, Open-source software is any software that is distributed to the developer community with the source code. Traditionally, software vendors distribute only the binaries for their products, leaving developers in the dark as to the inner workings of the products they use. Because open-source software vendors distribute the source code, developers can readily improve the product by creating patches for problems, or by making enhancements..."

Complete Story

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