Open source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. This allows users to create software content through incremental individual effort or through collaboration.
Open source culture is the creative practice of appropriation and free sharing of found and created content.
General Terms: Open Source Initiative
"...what open source is - and isn't.
Open source is:
- A means to encourage software innovation among diverse groups of programmers
- A policy of open inspection and analysis of source code, both to educate and provide a means for constructive criticism
- A means by which programmers can "scratch their itch" for mental stimulation while at the same time solving computing problems that are frequently applicable even to non-technical users
- Free, both intellectually and in terms of cost
Open source is not:
- A way to get commercial-quality support at no charge
- A free-for-all forum to ask for pie-in-the-sky software features and expect them to be implemented as requested and with no delay
- An invitation to harass and otherwise frustrate a small and dedicated development staff because they didn't do what you wanted
Open source software is exactly what it sounds like: It's software written by a (usually small) group of highly-dedicated people that solved particular problems they themselves had and thought others might find useful as well. Like most things that are free, it comes with no warranty: If it does what you want, that's great - that's exactly why it was offered to you. If not, you have the freedom of choice to either modify it to suit your desires or find another software package that more closely meets your needs.
The full article @ HandBrake
More Info & History of Open Source @ Wikipedia
