Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that gives users the right to use, share, modify, and distribute the software, modified or not, to everyone and provides the means to exercise those rights using the software's source code. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free software and open-source software, guaranteeing essential freedoms to inspect and modify code.
The historical precursor to FOSS was the hobbyist and academic public domain software ecosystem of the 1960s to 1980s. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux distributions and descendants of BSD are widely used today, powering millions of servers, desktops, smartphones, and other vital technological devices across the globe.
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SubscribeThe free software movement and the open-source software movement are online social movements behind the widespread production, adoption, and promotion of FOSS. While philosophical differences exist between permissive and copyleft licenses, both movements share a common goal of reducing restrictions on software usage.
Richard Stallman launched the GNU Project in 1983 at MIT to develop a complete free software operating system and restore user freedom, followed by the establishment of the Free Software Foundation in 1985. Later, the release of the Linux kernel by Linus Torvalds marked a major step toward a fully free operating ecosystem.
Impact and Economics of Open Source
Users of FOSS benefit from the freedom to make unrestricted use of, study, copy, modify, and redistribute software with or without modification. Instead of trusting proprietary vendors whose closed source code hides potential backdoors or vulnerabilities, FOSS allows communities of volunteers and users to quickly expose bugs and verify security.
FOSS often operates free of charge, encouraging better testing, comparison, and collaboration among various parties to develop efficient software solutions. According to Linus's law, the more people who can see and test a set of code, the more likely any flaws will be caught and fixed quickly.
Despite its many collaborative advantages, FOSS can sometimes face obstacles such as incompatibility with proprietary hardware, lack of access to costly official standards, or uncertainty regarding long-term resource gathering compared to heavily backed commercial products.
Nevertheless, the corporate world has increasingly embraced open-source software, proving that commercial success and free software principles can successfully coexist through sustainable business models pioneered by companies like Red Hat.