You will no doubt be aware that software is provided on a “licence” basis – the licence, which you agree to by clicking “I accept” when you install the software, limits what you are allowed to do with the software (for example, with proprietary software, you can’t copy the software, or hack it).

The “free to use” part of the licence on which OSS is based, is actually only one of four key “freedoms” that you get as a user when you decide to start using OSS software! These four are:

• The freedom to use the software for any purpose you like (free of charge)  
• The freedom to study and modify the software
• The freedom to copy the software
• The freedom to improve the software

Most users of course have no interest in tinkering around with the computer programming that makes up the software, and so in one sense, these freedoms are a bit irrelevant. However, they underpin the business case for making OSS available for free.

Because the “inner workings” of OSS is free to study and modify, this means that:

• Lots of developers can do this. A community development approach has proven to be a fast and very effective way to solve bugs and difficult technical problems. This gives OSS the potential to be very reliable and secure – no secrets, no secret ways to hack it.

• The systems use open standards, making it easy to get data out of one system into another (avoiding the data lock-ins that have been common in computing for many years).

So even though the typical user isn’t really interested in participating, it is comforting that OSS delivers these reassurances.

From a company perspective, though, why would a software developer make their software available on this basis? The answer is that most software companies make money out of the whole lifecycle of their customers’ use of the software – not just the “initial licence sale”. Customers need support with installation, user training, helpdesk services, upgrades, and so on – these are essential services that successful IT companies provide, and usually make up a much larger part of their earnings than the licence fee.

The OSS approach offers a great way to develop good software very quickly – an acceptable trade for the loss of the initial licence fee. Many large software companies (like IBM, Nokia and Sun) are moving over to this model.

However, we should say that a large number are not. In schools, the most commonly used software, from Microsoft, is not open source, and may well never be, although Microsoft are collaborating on some OSS development projects.

Incidentally, you may be thinking, “If OSS is so great, how come it hasn’t caught on already in the last 20 years or so of personal computing?” The answer to this is the internet – the OSS approach relies on community collaboration for its best outputs, and the internet has made this much much easier than before. This is why the OSS approach is growing fast at the moment, and why agencies such as Becta and UK Government believe it’s time for UK public institutions to seriously consider using it.