[ Thanks to Carlos
Cesar for this link. ]
“No one is quite sure how to define fire, but everyone knows
what is it. Open source software is the same. Like fire, we know
what open source does, we know what open source looks like, and we
know it when we see it, but no one agrees on a definition. About
the one thing that has general agreement is that open source
software is distributed with the source code freely available for
alteration and customization… thus the word ‘open.’“While it’s hard to say what open source is, it’s easy to say
what it’s not. It’s not proprietary, it’s not protected, it’s not
expensive (often free), and it’s not usually supported by a single
entity. Open source are those programs that are written by
volunteers and made available for all to use, to modify, and to
improve…”