Open source software for dummies: advantages, licenses, and examples

Open-source software is the trendiest game in town. Although open-source software has long been used by individuals for their private use, organizations started implementing more and more of it. 

🔓 Companies choose to implement alternatives to proprietary software for multiple reasons, like more flexibility and fewer costs. In this article, we’ll cover all the info you need to have on open-source software: what it is exactly, what are its advantages, and common examples.

What is open-source software?

Open-source software is the kind of software whose code is available to see. The code is not hidden and can be freely inspected - and even modified.

On the other hand, proprietary or closed-source software is the one whose code remains hidden. The ‘proprietary’ adjective stems from the fact that it remains the property of its creator, which is rarely the case with open-source software.

Open-source vs closed-source software: what are the differences?

The availability of the code is the #1 difference between open-source and closed-source software. Since the two are complete opposites in that sense, it creates further differences between them.

Let’s explore this dichotomy in detail.

Security

Neither open-source nor closed-source software is inherently more or less secure than the other. However, open-source software has a publicly available code - which, contra intuitively, can enhance its security.

Open-source communities are extremely interested in reviewing and proposing changes to the code to make it more secure. Therefore, open-source projects have the advantage of the community. On the other hand, closed-source software has secure codebases, making them less likely to be exploited.

Since both types of software have strongly opinionated advocates, it boils down to a matter of preference.

Support level

Open-source software is often free. As such, it doesn’t offer extensive support. Users must rely on forums, articles, or in-house experts. However, many open-source software today is not free and therefore includes extensive support.

On the other hand, proprietary software’s price includes support, usually via multiple channels. 

Price policies

As we already mentioned, open-source software is often free. However, in many cases, you can upgrade to a paying model which includes a wider array of features.

Closed-source software is rarely free. Moreover, since it includes support and other services, it is much more expensive on average.

Flexibility

In the category of flexibility, open-source software is the clear winner. Since closed-source software does not allow users to inspect nor change the code, there is little room for modifying the software to your own needs.

Ease of use

Many closed-source software advocates would say that it is much easier to use since it is developed with the customer in mind. This could be the case, but nowadays, open-source software is being used for commercial purposes in numerous cases. Therefore, its developers are also putting the ease of use high on their priority list.

Open-source software licenses

When it comes to open-source software licenses, there are two broad categories. Some licenses fall under the copyleft license category, while others are permissive open source licenses.

More than 50% of open-source licenses currently in use are permissive ones, and their use continues to rise while copyleft licenses decrease in use.

The main difference between these two types of licenses lies in how restrictive or permissive they are. Permissive open-source licenses allow more freedom to use, modify, and redistribute the software. On the other hand, copyleft licenses require you to adhere to the reciprocity rule, which makes it virtually impossible for organizations to use the software in commercial ventures.

Here are the four most common open-source software licenses.

Apache License 2.0

Written by the Apache Software Foundation, this license is to freely use, distribute, and modify open-source software without concerning with infringing patents or paying royalties. One of the few restrictions it entails is that if users change the Apache-licensed code, they must state so.

MIT License

MIT open-source license is one of the most popular open-source licenses. It is simply worded, making it a favorite of developers, and it falls under the category of the permissive license. In comparison with Apache, it does also give a copyright license but doesn’t give you a patent license. It allows for commercial use.

GNU GPL

GNU General Public License was the first copyleft license for general use. Originally introduced by Richard Stallman, it states that any subsequent work on the open-source software must be distributed under the same terms.

Currently, the third version of the license is available.

GNU LGPL

Abbreviated from GNU Lesser General Public License, this copyleft open-source license differs from its bigger brother GNU GPL in a few details. One of them is allowing the work to be linked with non-GPL-ed programs. In other words, it is a bit more permissive than the GNU GPL, but both are decreasingly popular in comparison with Apache and MIT licenses.

Open-source software advantages

We’re not going to lie: we’re big advocates of open-source software! How could we not be when Rocket.Chat is 100% open-source?

We built our platform this way because we strongly believe in everything that open-source stands for: openness, sharing, innovation, flexibility, and endless possibilities.