![]() The problems associated with open source are well documented by its opponents. Well this all sounds well and good so far! What are the drawbacks of an open source approach? Developers and distributors are motivated by the belief that free software will enable users to add enhancements, resulting in better programs - Which benefits everyone. The spirit of the open source community is such that more transparency within software is a good thing. So what's in it for companies offering open source software then? In any case, irrespective of the technical means one might have to recreate source code from a binary file, while many proprietary software licenses expressly forbid it. (Think about trying to convert an already baked cake back to its original ingredients). So if source code is so valuable why not just convert proprietary binary files back?Īlthough the effects of the compiling process can sometimes be reversed using a decompilation tool, the complexity of this process means it's usually one-way in nature. Essentially, which term you employ simply depends on your vision of software. ![]() To give some context on this, The term "open source" was coined to make "free software" more attractive, its supporters see open source software as a better way to make software.Supporters of the "free software" term value the freedom, not merely the way software is made, and thus argue that the term "open source" misses the point. The simple answer is YES! There is however still confusion out there about whether open source software and free software are the same thing - And the answer to that is: Yes and no. So okay then, why did I say "free" and not just free? Is it free or what? Why did I put the free in quotation marks? I'll lay out the explanation below, along with a few other questions I often come across when it comes to open source (a particularly popular subject right now and worth brushing up on!) On top of this, the software is offered for "free" which makes it an even more attractive option for developers. Open source software continues to be a popular choice for users due to it offering a transparent view of the source code and the freedom to access, alter, and reuse that code - a huge difference from proprietary software which allows for none of this.
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