Open source technologies are technologies that are open to the public. These technologies are basically programs or applications which are created using a licencethat allows the source code to be freely available to the public to view, edit and recirculate. A few examples of this technology is WordPress, Open Cart, Joomla, Linux, etc.
The opposite of this is closed source technology which is sold with an attached license to it.
Open source technology is often misinterpreted to be free of cost. In most of the cases, this is true, however, open source makes only the source code freely available to the public. The program, on the other hand, can have a price attached to it. Having said that, let’s delve deeper into Open Source Technology:-
- More usage
Since open source technologies have their source code readily available to the public at an absolutely free cost, hence there is a far greater number of users downloading it and using it when compared to closed source technologies.
- Fixing Bugs
As mentioned in the previous point, you have a great number of people constantly downloading the source code. Since the technology not only allows you to freely download but also edit and recirculate, it is constantly being downloaded by contributors who are editing the code, fixing the bugs and redistributing it to the public. These updates are again freely available and easy to download.
- Free themes, extensions and plug ins available
On basis of your product and service, since the source code is freely available, you have multiple themes and plug ins made available by the multiple users of this technology.
- Wide information documentation
Since you have a wide array of users attached to this technology, there is a wide documentation of information pertaining to the customization of this application. Hence you have resourceful information to any problem associated with the application.
- Tried and Tested
Being employed by a large number of users, this is a tried and tested technology with the approval of these users.
- Less prone to hacking
Since the technology is already freely available to users, it is less likely to be attacked by hackers.
A good example of open source technology is Wikipedia. Wikipedia was an open source technology that allowed users to share information on a common platform, edit and re-distribute the shared information whereas Encyclopedia, that was owned by Microsoft, had information distributed by a fixed set of individuals with a fixed price attached to it. Today, Wikipedia is the no. 1 information portal in the world whereas Encyclopedia is no longer available.
Information is a right to each and every individual and open source technologies are paving a way to achieving that.