What's the significance of 'open-source' software?

Beyond the much-hyped trendy websites, there is another powerful current shaping the future of the Internet: open source software. Not least because the ‘web servers’ that power the Internet, the world over, overwhelmingly run Linux, a powerful open-source software alternative to Windows.

Open source software — unlike that produced by corporations such as Microsoft and Apple — is developed and extensively tested by groups of networked individuals, often several hundred of them, acting together as a globally-connected co-operative community. And the source code, the line-by-line code that runs the software, remains open to all, so that no single company controls it. Furthermore open-source software tends to rapidly evolve and incorporate new features.

Read about the concept in-depth here, at the Open Source Initiative (image courtesy of)