Welcome to “Commercial and Open Source Software” After watching this video, you will be able to: Define commercial software, Define open source software, And Identify differences between commercial and open source software. What is commercial software? Commercial software, also sometimes referred to as proprietary or closed source, is copyrighted software. When individuals or companies purchase the software, they must acknowledge the software developer’s copyright, which is identified in the End-User License Agreement or EULA. Commercial software source code is private, and users are prohibited from copying, modifying, or redistributing the software or any part of the source code, except parts of the source code that may be open source. It is usually developed for commercial profit and can include open source code bundled with private source code. When commercial software is installed, a product key or a serial number is issued to certify that the software is original. Some commercial software is free, but upgrades and updates may cost extra, or the software may contain ads. Some examples of commercial software are: Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Intuit QuickBooks. Software licenses are also required for most open source software. Open source is also referred to as free and open source or FOSS, Open source software is free, and can be downloaded, installed, and used without limits or restrictions. Note that free software is not always the same as freeware, which is free to users, but is not always open source. Open source software contains free source code, which can be freely copied, modified, and redistributed. It also gives developers and users open access to the functions of the software and source code without cost or restrictions. A benefit of open source software is that developers and users can contribute to the source code and work together to improve the software and its functionality. Even though open source software is free and open, users are still required to agree to an End-User License Agreement or EULA in order to use the software. Some examples of open source software are: Linux, Mozilla Firefox, and Apache OpenOffice. There are some important differences in open source and closed source software. With open source software, The source code is available to be edited, modified, and redistributed. Users don’t have to pay to download, install, or use the software. Open source code can sometimes be used in commercial software, which is usually developed for profit, but can also include freeware. With closed source software, developers keep private the source code and how it works. Additionally, with closed source, a company or individual owns the rights to the source code and software, like with the Microsoft Edge web browser. Freeware, like the Edge browser, and commercial software can be closed source, regardless of whether it is available for free or for purchase. The Chromium web browser is an example of open source software, and the source code is free and openly available to everyone. The basis for the code in the Microsoft Edge web browser is from the open source code in the Chromium web browser. While some of the source code in Edge is open source, most of the source code is closed source and proprietary. The Microsoft Windows OS is both closed source and commercial, and users pay for the software. Note that for all software, whether it is open source or closed source, anyone who wants to use the software must agree to the End-User License Agreement. So how can you tell the difference between open source and closed source software? Most software has an “About” section located in the details of the software. If there isn’t an “About” section, look for “details” or some terms that are similar. In this example from the Microsoft Edge web browser, you would select the three dots in the right corner. Next, from the list, you would select “Help and feedback” to open more options. Then you would select “About Microsoft Edge” for more details. So how do you know if the application is open source or closed source? Once you select “About Microsoft Edge” the details show that Microsoft Edge uses Chromium open source code and other open source software. While the steps for determining open source or closed source will not be the same for every application, you can follow similar steps to find more information, or you can search trusted websites for more information about source codes for most software. In this video, you learned that: Commercial software is also known as proprietary or closed source software. Commercial software is copyrighted software. Individuals and companies can purchase commercial software as long as they comply with the specified conditions listed in the software license. Commercial software contains private source code that is often not accessible to users and competing companies. Users may not copy, modify, or redistribute private source code from commercial software. Additionally, you learned that: Open source software is also known as free and open source software or FOSS, and it can be downloaded, installed, and used without limits or restrictions. The source code in open source software is free and can be copied, modified, and redistributed. Users and developers have open access to the software functions and source code. There is overlap between open source and commercial software because open source code can be used in commercial software. All open source software is available for free, and some commercial software can be available free. You can find out whether software is open source or closed source in the “About” details of the application or program.
