Open Source debabbled
One of the tricks of modern technobabble is that many terms that get regularly thrown around aren't really specific bits of technology at all, but conceptual trends. Some of them are, in effect, philosophies of technology. Open source is essentially a technological philosophy, but it has fundamentally altered the landscape of the internet. The history and spin-offs of the open source movement could fill a college course (and probably do), but I'm going to try to break it down to its core concept.To understand what "open source" means in a general sense, you need to understand what source code is. I have to warn that this isn't just far into geek territory, it's old-school geek. To put it as simply as possible, what you probably think of as computer programming is in a sense a translation. As cryptic as code can seem to non-programmers, that code (whether it be basic javascript or hardcore C++) has essentially been designed as a form of near-English (assuming you code in English). The machine itself speaks its own language, conveniently called "machine language." Before a piece of software goes to market, it is translated (by another program, called a compiler) from the original programming language into machine language.
Sorry; that last paragraph may cost me my debabbling license. The upshot is that, once you get a piece of packaged software (let's say Microsoft Windows), you can no longer see the programming that went into it. That original programming is called "source code" or just "source". So, even if you were technically very talented, you really couldn't explore (let alone modify) the inner workings of that software. If you make your living developing and selling that software, this is all well and good, as it offers an inherent form of intellectual property protection.
Another way of looking at it, though, is that you lose out on the talented end-users (potentially thousands of them) who might have the technical expertise and inclination to modify and improve that software. The open source movement essentially taps into this idea. Instead of protecting their source code, open source proponents began to distribute it freely, encouraging the techie world at large to analyze, criticize, and super-size what they had built. While a group of people close to the original project generally determine what changes go into the official versions, the software benefits from the collective efforts of many talented end-users.
So, why would you want to use open source software? Well, typically, it's very inexpensive relative to commercial software and is sometimes even free. This was certainly a huge appeal for a growing internet and led many start-ups to pursue open source options. At the same time, the software has a huge base of support, as all of its fans are essentially privy to its inner workings. Of course, ultimately it still depends on the particular software need and application you're considering. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to explore some of the most popular developments in open source, specifically those that have become building blocks for the worldwide web.
