When I think of open source, I think of an application or another code-based project whos source code is open and visible to all, and people can contribute to it. There are advantages and disadvantages to open source. With an open source project, it is easier to get people to improve your project. However, open source projects must be free, it is not easy to sell them. Also, licensing restrictions could make it hard for others to use your projects. Steve Ballmer, then the CEO of Microsoft, in 2001 notably called Linux, which is an open source project, a “cancer” that “attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches”. I know this is referring to the GNU GPL license, which is what Linux is released under, which requires all derivative works to be released under the same license. This is known as “copyleft”.

I use many open source projects regularly. I use Visual Studio Code for programming, which is a recently started, but very popular, open source project. I have used different flavors of Linux occasionally, which is open source. I have used the Chrome and Firefox web browsers, which are open source. I have also used many other smaller open source applications as well.