What is an Open Source Software ? What is a Free Software ? and how important it is for the world community

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Open source software is software whose source code is published and made available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. Open source code evolves through community cooperation. These communities are composed of individual programmers as well as very large companies.
Freeware (from "free" and "software") is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit. The term does not imply that the software is free and open source software (FOSS). Freeware is a loosely defined category, which includes both closed and open source proprietary software. See Wikipedia for complete explanation.
  • Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
Source Code

The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

  • Free software is software that gives the user the freedom to share, study and use it as free. We call this free software because the user is free (bound by the conditions of certain restrictions by the party developer software manufacturer or even none at all).
To use free software is to make a political and ethical choice asserting the right to learn, and share what we learn with others.  Free software has become the foundation of a learning society where we share our knowledge in a way that others can build upon and enjoy.
Currently, many people use proprietary software that denies users these freedoms and benefits.  If we make a copy and give it to a friend, if we try to figure out how the program works, if we put a copy on more than one of our own computers in our own home, we could be caught and fined or put in jail. That’s what’s in the fine print of the license agreement you accept when using proprietary software.
The corporations behind proprietary software will often spy on your activities and restrict you from sharing with others. And because our computers control much of our personal information and daily activities, proprietary software represents an unacceptable danger to a free society.
  • Are You going to share?
It is undeniable the word "Free" always invite a lot of people. Usually people would be happy if receive anything for free. Well in any open source world, particularly in terms of software, free software is still the target for those lovers of free software.
The question is where we can get it free software?
Here's a list of website you can visit to get a Free Software:


sourceforge 









softpedia 








softonic






osliving 








osalt







alternativeto 








Next time I'll add more. Thanks

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Danoefa Team