Software as Community
I’m writing this post in WordPress, an open source blog engine. WordPress is written in PHP, an open source programming language. Our blog is running on an Apache web server using a MySQL database, both open source. All on top of the Linux operating system – perhaps the most famous open source project.
Our soon-to-launch web site also uses MySQL and Apache. I’m developing it in Ruby on Rails, using a number of popular community extensions. I’m testing it in FireFox, using the amazing FireBug plug-in. Yup, all open source.
What’s open source?
Open source is free software. But, as the community cliche goes, it’s free as in speech, not free as in beer.
Or, as the founder of the free software movement puts it, free as in freedom.
The official definition:
Free software is software that gives you the user the freedom to share, study and modify it. We call this free software because the user is free.
You use open source software everyday you’re on the web. It’s increasingly likely you’re using an open source browser like FireFox. If not, most of the web pages you visit leverage open source.
Written by Kevin Moore
