Slide19

If commercial software is so expensive, how come open-source software is free? Is there really such a thing as a free lunch? Well in this case, pretty much. The basis of open-source software is the idea that developers and programmers want to be free to share and collaborate on work, and be able to freely distribute ideas among themselves as well as the general user. The idea is that a lot of minds working together can create a better product than a few minds behind closed doors.

In 1992 an organization called the GNU Project combined its product with Linux, and together they developed what is called the GNU General Public License, or GPL. In a nutshell, software under the GPL may be copied, modified, sold, or re-sold. The main feature of the GPL is the idea that any changes or improvements made to a product have to be also released under the GPL. The benefit for the user is that, regardless of whether you buy a copy of open-source software in a box or download it free from the web, you are free to install that software wherever you like, as many times as you like, and make whatever changes you want to it.