open source software

Open-source software is a computer program whose source code is publicly available to everyone. This means that anyone can see, change, and improve the code. This openness promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing between programmers worldwide. In contrast to proprietary software, which can often only be edited by the creator, open source projects allow many people to contribute to the development and improvement of the software. Users can often download and use this software free of charge, modify it and even create and distribute their own versions of it, as long as they comply with the terms of the respective open source license.