Benefits of Open Source Software

Open source software is released with its source code available for anyone to see. That one feature brings benefits both to the people who use the software and to the people who write it.

Benefits to the user

• It is usually free. You can download and use it without paying a licence fee, which matters when there is very little money to spend and buying a licence for every machine is out of reach. Free of charge and open source are not the same thing, though: what makes it open source is the open code, not the price.
• You can change it to suit your own needs. Because the source code is there, you can edit it rather than just changing settings. A youth club running a free booking program could edit the code so it asks for a parent's phone number as well as an email address.
• You can share it and install it on as many computers as you need. There is no per-machine payment, so the same program can go on every computer in a room, or be passed on to a friend, at no extra cost.
• Many people can check the code. Anyone can read it, so mistakes and security flaws are often spotted and fixed quickly by the community rather than waiting for one company.

Benefits to the developer

• Other programmers can contribute. They can add features, translate the menus or repair bugs for free, so a project can grow faster than one person could manage alone.
• The software can spread widely. Being free and shareable helps it reach a large audience and become well known, which can bring donations, offers of paid work or job offers for the developer.
• It suits projects meant to help everyone. If the aim is a tool that anyone can use and improve, such as a program that reads a school timetable aloud, an open source licence lets the whole community benefit.