Open Source Software Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Open Source Software - Research Paper Example A group of people suggested the replacement of the term free software with the term open source software (OSS) in the year 1998 because the latter was more convenient and less vague for the corporate world as compared to the former. The benefit of publishing a software with the license of an open source software is that it allows everybody to understand the way the software functions and in turn, develop a similar software. The open source software offers much more flexibility as compared to other kinds of software in that the users can modify the open source software, port the software to the processor architects, advertise the software, market it, and share it with other users. The Open Source Initiative publishes a document titled â€Å"The Open Source Definition† which defines the criteria for the labeling of a software license as the open source, so that the software may acquire the certification mark of open source. There is an open source philosophy ingrained in the ope n source definition. It defines several aspects of the open source software that include but are not limited to the terms of usage, terms of modification, as well as the principles of redistribution of the software. Numerous licenses of open source software are included in the Open Source Definition. An example of these licenses is the GNU General Public License (GPL) that grants the users the right to distribute the software freely provided that any modifications and developments are included in the same license.  ... â€Å"The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time† (opensource.org, n.d.). With the open source distribution, a product’s source code becomes accessible to the public whereas such access can be fine tuned by the authors using the open source licenses. Classification of OSS The OSS can be broadly classified into three main types namely Vendor OSS, Community OSS, and Hybrid OSS. Vendor OSS The Vendor OSS is also known as Community based OSS. This is a type of OSS that is mainly made and produced by a company. In a vast majority of cases, the vendor of this software develops a product’s version that exists in a community edition and can be downloaded free of cost. There is no support with the community edition and its functionality is lesser than that of the commercial version, that is also known as the Enterprise version or the Professional version. The examples of Vendor OSS include but are not limited to Jaspersoft, BonitaSoft, SugarCRM, Inforbright, and Talend. â€Å"Talend's data integration solutions provide a powerful set of tools to meet any integration requirement, from basic transformations to the most complex operational integration issues, data migration & capture, as well as data replication, synchronization and application upgrades† (Talend, 2012). Community Based OSS As the name implies, there is a community of people that develops and manages the Community Based OSS. In most of the cases, the software is developed by a group of people in the community, that can be joined by anyone. The examples of this type of software include Netscape, GNU Compiler Collection, and