It's hard to get online and on the internet without hearing about Open source software. It's harder yet to figure out what it is. On one side you hear how it's nothing less than the savior of man, and on the other side, you hear that it's the downfall. All these messages come from people who have some stake in the issue and nobody seems to be looking out for the most important person involved: you.

Well I'm here to tell you, this is a good thing. It's free stuff. And everyone likes free stuff. It's like the opposite of taxes.

What is Open Source Software, Anyway?

In order to understand what open source software is, you must first understand how software's made. Most commercial software, such as that used in PCs or embedded computers (like the ones all over the inside of your car), is constructed by writing instructions in a language that basically describes the problem and how to work on data.

That sounds completely like fluff, but that's exactly what it is. The only human element in writing software is thinking through problems and how to solve them. If, for example, you need to show someone a picture, you have to figure out how to work the screen and the hard drive that it's stored on. Then you just write it down in a very precise way.

Unfortunately, computer chips and humans don't really speak the same language. Where a human writes out words and punctuation to make the language, the computer does things at a much more basic level and can't really afford to translate things that we understand into its own commands. In most cases, the translation step takes a long time to complete, which is unacceptable in most situations. Worse yet, designing hardware to actually understand human readable code is very difficult and wasteful of silicon (money).

This human-readable language is known as "source code" or simply "source." Special programs, known as compilers, exist to translate this code into instructions that the chip can work on. In the end, it generates what most people know as "programs" or "executable files."

What's great about source code is that it can be used on lots of different types of computers that aren't PCs, like Macs

or BlackBerries. Also, if you want it to do something slightly different than it's already doing, you can change it to suit your own will.

But it's usually not available. Instead, you're required to go to a store, like Best Buy, and give some people your money for a cardboard box with a little disk of plastic in it; sometimes lots of money. And you don't even get source code.

So why not?

Value

Source code is defended jealously by software companies. It represents a significant amount of time and money that the company has invested to pay programmers to write and test it. So instead of making it available to anyone to inspect, they only make available the final output, even if it isn't exactly what you want. Even if it doesn't work right.

This is an ownership model. The company now owns the complete rights to use that source code and they make money from in perpetuity. (Actually, copyright is 92 years, but since that's an optimistic lifespan, it's essentially forever.) The company invests money in the rights, then benefits from that as long as they can get people to buy their end product.

Service

Open source software takes a different route. The idea behind open source is that the source code is made freely available to anyone who wants it. They can download it and compile it and create the end product themselves.

Right about now, you might think there's something wrong - that some key piece is missing. How can anyone make money on this?

The answers are varied, but they all revolve around service. If you're the owner of the source, you're literally the most qualified person to give advice about it.

So this knowledge is now worth money; you sell your services. One way is to sell tech support. Another service to sell is by taking contracts to modify it: since you know the code best, you're also the best qualified to modify it for custom purposes. You can write and sell self-help books or other technical manuals and guides. In short, you're now selling your time instead of licensing your property for use.

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