What is open source?

However, more people in the programming world are accustomed to understanding it as "open source code".

In the early stages of computer development, software was almost always open. Anyone using the software could view the source code of the software or modify it according to their own needs. In the programmer community, everyone shares software with each other and improves their knowledge together. This free atmosphere brings joy and progress to everyone.

But soon after, some commercial companies, mainly Microsoft, destroyed this trend. These commercial companies hire a large number of technical experts from the free computer community to develop proprietary software with intellectual property protection. They no longer include source code when distributing software. Since then, the era of proprietary software has arrived. Until now, it has been the default unspoken industry rule that proprietary software not disclose its source code.

Even so, the freedom fighters did not compromise. They believe that the digital age should be free, and anyone can freely obtain software resources and their source code, and should not be controlled by a few commercial companies. Therefore, a group of passionate technical experts led by Stallman launched the free software movement and founded the "Free Software Foundation", namely Free Software Foundation (FSF). FSF issued the GNUGPL General Public License. GPL clearly defines the meaning of free software, that is, users have four freedoms: using software, modifying software, redistributing software, and improving and reusing software. As a prerequisite, free software must be made public. All source code. GPL has become the highest spiritual program in the free software world. It has successfully created a kingdom of freedom in software and ensured that developers and users have full freedom. In addition, in the world of free software, the concept of piracy does not exist at all.

The English word for "free software" is "FreeSoftware", which is inevitably misunderstood by many people. People often associate it with "free software". Free software is just low-level. This casts a shadow over free software. So everyone decided to give free software a more understandable alias "open source software". This is where the term open source comes from.

So, open source is the embodiment of freedom. It speaks of an open, free spirit. The development history of open source software has brought huge reference value to people in the software industry and non-software industries.