Portal:Free and open-source software/Introduction

Nowadays, Portal:Free and open-source software/Introduction is a topic on everyone's lips. From its emergence in society to its impact on everyday life, Portal:Free and open-source software/Introduction has sparked great interest in various communities. This phenomenon has generated numerous debates and reflections about its importance, its implications and its role in the modern world. Throughout this article, we will explore different aspects related to Portal:Free and open-source software/Introduction, analyzing its influence on culture, technology, politics and personal life. Likewise, we will delve into the various perspectives that exist around Portal:Free and open-source software/Introduction, offering a broad and enriching vision that allows us to understand its impact on today's society.

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Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software – modified or not – to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free software and open-source software. The rights guaranteed by FOSS originate from the "Four Essential Freedoms" of The Free Software Definition and the criteria of The Open Source Definition. All FOSS must have publicly available source code, but not all source-available software is FOSS. FOSS is the opposite of proprietary software, which is licensed restrictively or has undisclosed source code.

The historical precursor to FOSS was the hobbyist and academic public domain software ecosystem of the 1960s to 1980s. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux distributions and descendants of BSD are widely used, powering millions of servers, desktops, smartphones, and other devices. Free-software licenses and open-source licenses have been adopted by many software packages. Reasons for using FOSS include decreased software costs, increased security against malware, stability, privacy, opportunities for educational usage, and giving users more control over their own hardware.

The free software movement and the open-source software movement are online social movements behind widespread production, adoption and promotion of FOSS, with the former preferring to use the equivalent term free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS). FOSS is supported by a loosely associated movement of multiple organizations, foundations, communities and individuals who share basic philosophical perspectives and collaborate practically, but may diverge in detail questions. (More about free and open-source software...)

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