Open Source Software

Open Source Software is usually produced with the aim of creating and making available functional tools for those that need them, often by those that need them. It is considered "free", as in "freedom of speech," in that anyone may look at the source code of the software, and make enhancements, plug ins, and modifications to it at will, as well as freely redistribute it. Most Open Source software operates under a free license that is designed to protect the rights of individuals using the software and to assure that it remains freely available.

What this usually means is that this software is also free in terms of money. Of course, it is usually not developed by a major corporation, but instead evolves within a smaller (but nonetheless sizable) community of developers and organizations. This means that much of the support for these tools can be found on forums and bulletin boards. It also means that, although the applications may start humble, there is a more invested and extended base from which improvements and evolutions may come. Though proprietary software (such as the well known Adobe products) is quite useful it is also quite expensive if you would like to use it professionally, and often you can find a just as useful Open Source replacements for it. Just because these programs don't have their own share of the stock market doesn't make them any less useful, so we encourage you to give them a try. After all, it's free.

The individual programs listed to the right are just some of what is available, and we would encourage you, if you are interested, to do a bit of your own research and see what's out there. You can find free office software, free money management and enterprise tools, free screenplay formatting tools, panorama creation software, video editing, and so on and so forth. Not all Open Source programs are going to be right for you, or are fully mature yet, but there is a good number that will come in very handy.