What is open source? Open Source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. Now, what does that even mean?

Prior to a few days ago, I had no idea what this ideology was.  Think about it like this, someone designs a house, blueprints and all.  Then they make those plans available to the public for free.  You can take the plans and build the house the same way, or you can change the plans to your specification.

So simply put, open source means that software is open and available to all who wish to work on it.  The software is available in the source code form.  Why is this special? Well because usually the source code is only available for copyright holders.  However with this initiative users could study, change and improve.

As a play on words the term copyleft has become a joke involved with the idea of open source.  What this means in the simplest way possible is that you have to tell users how to make your product and how to change it.  An example of this would be the GNU General Public License, which was the first copyleft license for general use.  What the GNU General Public License promotes is the freedom to share and change all versions of a program.

Seems simple enough right? Then I got to thinking why is this even important?

Well have you thought of ordering the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium? If so you are looking at investing around $1,899 in your future projects. Holy cow, almost $2,000, I don’t have that kind of money.  I’m not sure of anyone who would be willing to fork that over for some computer program.  However, what if you really need them…open source will become your best friend.  With one quick search I found a website with 10 alternatives to Photoshop, all free.

I looked into this a little more and found a website that offers alternatives to almost the whole creative suite.  Open Source Alternatives has options for downloading all of these components, as well as many others such as Microsoft Visio 2010 and iTunes.

Most of you reading this are probably using an open source product and don’t even know it.  Check your browser, are you using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome? Well then you are using open source!

Now open source does not always mean that something is free, although most of the programs previously mentioned are, the key to open source is the ability to change and edit the program through the source code.

Open source cola for example is a product that can be made and sold. The recipe is available and can be modified or improved anyway a person sees fit. The only thing that a person needs to do is register their new recipe with the GNU General Public License.

So what is the future for the Open Source Initiative? Or is it the future? Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page.