Open Source Software OSS is software whose source code is published
and made available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify
and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or
fees. Open source code evolves through community cooperation.
These communities are composed of individual programmers as
well as very large companies. The advantage of OSS is primarily
the cost of the product and the licensing. Many of the programs
replicate some of the more popular commercial programs. Open
Office is based on Microsoft’s Office suite. Gimp is loosely
based on Adobe Photoshop. Many school systems are adopting OSS
because of the enormous cost savings in its use. It is good
for professionals seeking to enhance their productivity skills
to be aware of the OSS initiative and to be familiar with some
of the software offerings.
2.
OPEN SOURCE GENERAL SITES
The
following sites manage and administrate the OSS initiative.
