The Evolution and Concept of Open Source Development
Open Source (Free) development is a methodology of creating software products from the design, development to its distribution. Developers often distributed such free software under the GPL (General Public License). This methodology provides a source code access to anybody and everybody aspiring to develop the software further for the good.
The evolution of Open source development
During the period of 50's and 60's, software were distributed free of cost to enhance the functionality of the hardware or to promote the hardware. People involved in the computer business dealt with hardware and freely distributed codes to encourage hardware sales. Also, buyers often had to change the code to make it work according to their business. They also had to fix bugs or add new features supporting hardware issues.
During early 1970's, operating system and compilers began to grow rapidly. This development phase led to the surge in software demand, which had software companies to begin charging for the software licenses. Software started selling with several legal restrictions including copyright, trademark and leasing contracts.
The Open Source trend evolved during 1984 and 1985 when Stallman started the GNU project with an ultimate goal of getting the operating system developed and edited by genius developers without the expensive licensing issue and source code restrictions. This promoted Open Source development not only for operating system, but also for other areas of computing. Later, GNU General Public License became a legal tool ensuring that software under the GNU will remain free.
Open source framework programming advanced and today major companies accept its integration. This system developed some of the most famous and robust software namely Mozilla Corporation products, Firefox; Linux and UNIX operating systems; LAMP software stack and so on.
The Concept
Although we fondly call these applications as free software, the term "free" refers to its nature, meaning users have liberty to study, use and modify the software. In terms of price, these applications are not available free of cost, but one can easily avail them at minimal charges. This type of application development is, generally, an initiative from the non-profit organizations.
The customization of such software makes proprietary software owners uncomfortable due to its lower cost of development, support and license. Also, there is a wide scope for open source development and integration, as the huge communities and developers with better skills back the technology. These solutions are faster and scalable as compared to their proprietary counterparts. Moreover, these solutions offer more stability as they can be freely changed with time and according to the usability.
Is open source integration preferable?
Today, most companies feel implementing free software framework programming techniques are safer and hassle-free, as companies don't have to go through the complicated proprietary software licensing process. Free applications are community driven and community serving; brilliant programmers across the world join these communities and put their efforts to serve it better.
Open source is self-sustained. It doesn't belong to a specific organization, but to the community. Therefore, Open Source integration is always preferable as if a company initiating a specific development goes bankrupt, the software still remains strong, and the development never stops, as it is well-maintained by the community.
