User:Jbmarco it3a

First, what is Open Source? What does mean? Open source means that, unlike most of the software you might buy shrink-wrapped down at Joe Bob's Computer Hut, you have access to the raw source code-the human-readable C, C++, Perl,etc.-files that get compiled down into the binary that is executed by the computer. This executable binary-.exe-is all you get from closed-source proprietary sources. Should you so desire, you can view the source files to see why that darn error message keeps popping up, or how to make that widget default to a different directory, or how to add a cool new function. Once you start looking at source, youve started down the path of becoming an Open Source programmer. That's the beauty of Open Source. You can make changes and submit them for others to look at. You can design a new widget to emulate a feature or program that you liked on a different system, or to do something entirely new because you, using the available Open Source software, can look at the code that drives Linux, or Apache,or the Gimp, or Open Office, or Mozilla. You can write code to use it, to improve it, to hook it, and/or to make it do almost anything else. Then changes can be shared with others as they did with you; with Open Source its not only OK to copy, to improve, to use, and to return the source code to the community of users, but it is expected. You may never do this; you may use Linux and Apache and Perl and never look at a line of code, never change a default in a configuration file. But, you could if you wanted to-you don't have to live with what someone else decided is best. The philosophy of Open Source software, among other things, is that many hands and eyes make for good software, unlike too many cooks spoiling the broth. Bugs are more likely to be caught,and more important, fixed, if everyone has access to the source. As in cryptography, closed systems cannot be proved to be free of flaws or errors. While its no guarantee that no bugs exist, open systems can be examined for flaws; closed systems can only be tested against known bugs (security through obscurity).It's the unknown unknowns that can bite you. As anyone who's ever participated in design or code review knows, only by getting other people to look at your system or code have you any hope as finding the bugs-everyone has blind spots. The more eyes that look at the source, the better. With Open Source, it isn't just a few people in a suburb east of Seattle who eyeball the code, but hundreds if not thousands of people all over the world. When, not if, a bug is discovered, anyone can fix it without depending on software company to do a cost analysis of whether to issue a new free service pack or to include the update in the next dot revision and charge $99.95 for it.

REFERENCE: OPEN SOURCE WEB DEVELOPMENT WITH LAMP pages; xxviii-xxix

BY: JAMES LEE AND BRENT WARE