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Search the World's Largest Database of Information Science & Technology Terms & Definitions

InfScipedia

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Below please find a list of definitions for the term that
you selected from multiple scholarly research resources.

What is Free Software

Chapter 99

Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations

The term that is given to software in which the user has freedom to access the source code and modify it.

Published in Chapter:

Key Concepts and Definitions of Open Source Communities

Ruben van Wendel de Joode (Twynstra Gudde Consulting, The Netherlands, and Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Sebastian Spaeth (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Source Title: Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch099

Abstract

Most open source software is developed in online communities. These communities are typically referred to as “open source software communities” or “OSS communities.” In OSS communities, the source code, which is the human-readable part of software, is treated as something that is open and that should be downloadable and modifiable to anyone who wishes to do so. The availability of the source code has enabled a practice of decentralized software development in which large numbers of people contribute time and effort. Communities like Linux and Apache, for instance, have been able to connect thousands of individual programmers and professional organizations (although most project communities remain relatively small). These people and organizations are not confined to certain geographical places; on the contrary, they come from literally all continents and they interact and collaborate virtually.