What is Open Source?
For anyone who has not heard of Open Source Software they will be extremely surprised to hear how widely used it is amongst the biggest and most successful technology companies in the world. For example, the whole of Google's search system, reportedly over a million computers, run a version of Linux - an Open Source operating system. Facebook and Twitter are also running completely on Open Source software. In fact most of the Internet and World Wide Web run on Open Source Software.
Another familiar example of the concept of Open Source is Wikipedia. This is a perfect example of how people are sharing knowledge. Experts oversee particular subjects, publish new Wikipedia pages, and the whole world is free to add or dispute the information. Wikipedia is an open forum for ideas and knowledge free for everyone to add to or learn from.
The philosophy of Open Source Software dates back to roughly 1985 and Richard Stallman's setup of the Free Software Foundation. This essentially is a movement based on the concept that software should not be owned and patented by corporations, but instead available to the public to share and adapt freely.
In OpenERP terms, this means the software is published under a special license called the AGPL, which protects the software from proprietary ownership, and makes it free for anyone who wants to have it. Free not only in that it does not cost anything for the code, but Open in the sense that you can read, edit, and access all parts of the system. This is a complete contrast to proprietary software, where you as a purchaser of a license to run the software, can never see how it has been programmed.
To a lot of people and businesses this distinction may not seem important or relevant. However it is significantly important when choosing Open Source Software for your business, particularly when it is at a level of maturity like Linux and OpenERP, because it provides huge benefits that cannot be overlooked.
