by Mia Hill

Created on: May 23, 2010

The idea of shareware started as the practice of sharing software with users who paid a small fee to obtain a dumbed-down version of a computer programme. If the users liked the trial, they could then purchase the full version. Over time, this concept developed into the Open Source Initiative (OSI) where Internet users have access to free software to download, alter and use. People using the open source applications are also encouraged to contribute to the OSI according to their capability. The OSI is both the give and take of computer software, knowledge and experience.

According to the OSI Website, in order for an application to qualify as open source it must adhere to specific criteria. The ten requirements can be found on the OSI Website; however, it is worth mentioning some of the more important specifications here: 1) The software should be available free of charge for any person or group to download, and 2) The source code must be publicly accessible to users for their personal use or distribution. (Open Source, 2009)  

The Web browser Firefox is perhaps the most widely used open source software, and it can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost to the users. One reason why Firefox is gaining in popularity, especially among those in the Web design industry, is because of its user-friendly graphic interface. Firefox has an integrated anti-phishing and firewall mechanism,¬ making the browser virtually impenetrable to hackers. The security issues that concern many Internet users are practically negligible when browsing with Firefox, one more reason why Firefox is so popular.  

OpenOffice is an open source office suit that offers the same features as Microsoft Office, such as a word processor and spreadsheet, without the cost factor. Notepad is a free text editor that provides users the same features as commercial text editors and is popular among computer programmers for writing programming and scripting languages such as Java and HTML. Mozilla Thunderbird is an open source email client that has all the options to meet every e-communication requirement, including an address book, themes and spam filters.

GIMP is an open source image-editing package that offers most of the functionality that Adobe PhotoShop offers. GIMP also has one of the largest online support communities of all the open source projects. DVD Flick is a simple and easy to use DVD authoring tool and its powerful image and photo-editing features are becoming increasing popular

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