Business and enterprise software, and other applications that help a business run

This column has mentioned Open Source software a number of times in the last couple of weeks. Because I am an Open Source advocate, I somehow assume that everyone understands Open Source, like something magically gained with their morning coffee. Upon even a split-second’s reflection, that is most obviously not very bright of me.

Even if you don’t know what Open Source software is, you have undoubtedly interacted with it in the last 24 hours. If you have been on the Web in that time, most the pages you saw were almost undoubtedly served by a Linux (Open Source) server operating system running Apache (open Source) software. If you looked at a blog (weblog), it was almost certainly presented to you by Open Source software, probably WordPress, although there are a number of other Open Source blog programs.

This column has already discussed Open Source in columns about OpenProj, Content Management Systems, and the business software desktop. We will be writing more about the Open Source movement in the weeks and months to come because we both hope and believe that a lot of the future of business computing is wrapped up in this very important concept.

Wikipedia, with much help from the Debian guidelines and Bruce Perens, defines open source (hold your breath) as:

• Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold. (This was intended to encourage sharing and use of the software on a legal basis.)
• Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable. (Without source code, making changes or modifications can be impossible.)
• Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)
• Integrity of The Author's Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
• No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no one can be locked out.
• No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
• Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
• License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
• License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
• License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.

 
Although that is a lot, it all hangs together to form the perfect framework for the entire Open Software movement.

Tomorrow – How it all works.