Free and Open Source Software

Free, open source software is a bit of a sticky wicket. Many people think "free" means "no money, and maybe no Web page logins to access to the code." Likewise, "open source" may mean that the programs can be read by any developer, instead of compiled so that only computers can read them. Instead, or in addition, open source is a development methodology, whereas free software is a social movement. 

Free Software

Both "free" and "open source" refer to essentially the same set of licenses and software. An article posted on gnu.org addresses why individuals do not use the same definition.

When we call software "free", we mean that it respects the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of "free speech", not "free beer".

The Free Software movement is a movement for freedom and justice, and it campaigns for freedom for the users of computing. Regardless of whether freedom is a societal ideal, sometimes I just post software on this site. Anyone who can reach the web page can download it, examine it, and use it. However, not everyone participates in the loop that is collaboration and maintenance, because no-price software is a do-as-time-allows effort. 

Free software may demonstrate the most basic of skills or product offerings, but something about you and your creations should be worth more than after-hours hobby time. The Internet is littered with marvelous ideas that are not maintained, because developers eventually devote time to projects that have a higher priority or higher payback. Even with the best of intentions, there may be no commitment to maintaining freeware or free software at the same pace as underlying tool updates. However, there may still be someone out there that has a platform that your no-price software runs on, and there is no requirement that they collaborate with you. In the original spirit of hackers and Internet donations, they are welcome to it.

Open Source

By contrast, the open source movement started as a group that splintered off from the ideals of the Free Software Foundation so they could focus on practical values, such as making or having powerful, reliable software. Open source software is often associated with business partnerships or consortiums that are large enough to create robust technologies and have the time and funds, personally and professionally, to maintain it. This support is far more than being able to provide or access human-readable code, because the individuals and/or their companies have a vested interest in successful collaboration. The practical philosophy of open source considers issues in terms of how to make software "better".

Open source code is usually stored in a public repository and shared publicly. Anyone can use the code independently or contribute improvements to the code and the project. There are rules and guidelines for how to use, license, interact with, and support updates to the source code, in addition to providing guidelines for collaboration. This means that the developer does not need access to every combination of hardware, operating system, and software on which the code might run, and either the developer or the user can suggest or make improvements. Some repositories are https://github.com/, https://code.google.com/, and https://sourceforge.net/.

Conclusion

There is a WHOLE LOT of software available on the Internet that just does the trick. Everything from Audacity to 7-Zip is either free or open source. You can support them with time or money, if you so choose.  Donations may be made to some of the repositories or the software companies that make these tools available. Collaborations include input from developers, documenters, users, testers, and translators.

Keep in mind, though, that open-source software may not address the difference in learning curve between the more expensive tools that you purchased previously, and the free thing that does nearly everything you wanted, but slightly differently. If you spent money on the first one and you want to make a switch, keep in mind that you may have to spend time re-learning the new open-source tool.