Talk:Open-source software

Proposal to rewrite Sociological and demographic questions and the introduction
I propose rewriting the intro/lead in section. I also propose rewriting the social and demographic questions section and renaming it Society and Culture, as well as moving the section further down toward the bottom as impact to society makes more sense as a closing thought.

= Open Source Software = The term open source software (OSS) refers to software projects that are redistributable, with all source code being made available. Similarly, modifications and derived works are allowed and distributable.

Though open-source software has many similarities to free software, open-source software focuses on the logic of publicly available software creating as much innovation as possible, while the free software movement sees publicly available software as a moral right, creating philosophical differences, though both movements support publicly available software. Because of their similarities, some refer to their projects with both terms; free and open source (FOSS) or free/libre open source (F/LOSS, FLOSS). Whichever the case, because of their respective philosophical focuses, it is generally expected to refer to projects as the creator has labeled them.

The strength of open source software is its community, involving a range of roles from contributors to users. Because open source software is generally made up of voluntary contributions, open source projects differ from proprietary software in their organization, membership, leadership, contribution policies, and quality control. This allows for lower barriers to participation, but also removes the monetary incentive to finish projects. However, there are also some disadvantages. For example, due to being made up of voluntary contributions there may be members who are unhelpful or have agendas that influence their contributions. These issues may be true of any voluntary community and the majority greatly outnumbers the minority of unpleasant participants. Some other issues may be licensing difficulties, disordered projects, language barriers, poor communication, or abandoned projects.

For the consumer, open source software offers and opportunity to share, modify, improve software within the licensing limitations or to enjoy the software others have altered. For society, open source software offers software that can be tailored to the needs of many industries and institutions around the world, including governments, allowing for greater economic development.

Wiki Education assignment: IFS213-Hacking and Open Source Culture
— Assignment last updated by KAN2035117 (talk) 22:50, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Proposal to Delete and Rewrite
Hello, I propose deleting the open source licensing section under definitions because the information is repeated in the licensing section under legal and economic issues. I also propose deleting the funding section under open source software development because it is pretty short and unsourced. additionally, I propose rewriting the advantages section to give it more sources. Finally, there are a couple of duplicate citations I would like to fix. @Eddawolfkill I'm a student editor too! Let me know if you have any thoughts on these changes! Policy1257 (talk) 14:23, 14 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the delay. I had different sections I am currently focused on. I noticed we no section in culture not talking about social media with open software. I am currently reviewing this section in more detail about how obs, Shotcut, etc are used in this space. More so since the influx of population use is around 5 billion users in social media. Once I have completed this section and had advisor review my portion to add. I will help with updating some of the citations and review the duplication statements stated. I agree they is redundancy. Eddawolfkill (talk) 05:00, 24 March 2024 (UTC)

Summary of recent work
Hello, as a student researcher I have implemented a lot of changes recently on the page. As my work on the page comes to an end, I wanted to provide a summary for some of the changes I have made. I have rewrote several sections to provide more sources with up to date information. I have deleted a few small unsourced sections that I felt did not contribute to the article, such as the funding section and practical uses section. I have replaced a few duplicate citations and tried to reduce the amount of sources to focus on academic, peer reviewed information. I have changed the outline of the page to move history and society and culture more toward the bottom for a clearer reading of the page. Finally, I have tried to introduce a few new sections such as the legal and economics section and to fill out a few sections, such as the society and culture section.

Thanks! Policy1257 (talk) 16:57, 19 March 2024 (UTC)