Open Source

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software


In today’s increasingly competitive software market, the rising number of open source applications and the growing adoption rate of these same solutions is placing a lot of pressure on tech giants like Oracle, Microsoft, Apple and Sun to name a few. While this has always been the case in the server and database space, it is becoming evident that it is growing tremendously in the mobile platform space and maybe even in the operating system space for consumer computers.
In recent years the rapid growth and popularity of iOS powered devices, specifically the iPhone has given rise to the need for an alternative that could not only challenge the iOS platform, but make up for shortcomings found in iOS
Fast forward to the year 2010 and after several revisions and more than 30 handsets, the Android operating system is making its way into almost all new mobile phones and tablet devices. The proliferation of Android powered devices has brought an open source operating system to the masses like never before.
In terms of the PC, the Windows powered netbook is being threatened by the impending release of a Chrome powered netbook later this fall. Like Ubuntu and other Linux variants that are based on Linux, Google Chrome OS is derived from an open source project powered by Chromium OS. Google's Chrome OS may succeed where other operating systems have failed when confronted with Windows. Chrome OS has the advantage of being very similar to its cousin the Chrome browser which is now used by 17% of internet users this is where Google has done a great job of positioning their OS, their suite of apps, and the browser as the focal point of all user activities.
 Linux flavors like Ubuntu do a great job of making things easier for the average user who may be new to Linux, but they lack the reach and adoption outside of the software-guru sphere. They also lack the resources a company like Apple employs via their Genius Bar to train Windows users to become familiar with the differences between Windows and Mac OS platforms.
the open source projects surrounding mobile device operating systems and operating systems powering netbook/tablet-like devices, but there is a whole other world of open source when we delve into the topic of the web. Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla run the vast majority of blogs and websites on the internet. Ever wonder what powers the blogs at the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, TechCrunch, Mashable, CNN and other top ranking news and content sites on the web? It's all open source, most blogs run on WordPress, others on Drupal, and the rest on Joomla and other Open source CMS scripts.