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Open source
software is defined by its attached license guaranteeing anybody
rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute the software.
Open Source
is a certification mark owned by the Open
Source Initiative. Developers of software that is intended to be
freely shared and possibly improved and redistributed by others can
use the Open Source trademark if their distribution terms conform to
the OSI's Open Source Definition.
To
summarize, the Definition model of distribution terms require that:
Free
Redistribution
No restrictions are placed on parties from
selling of giving away the software.
Source
Code Availability
The software must include source code and
must also allow for binary distributions when there is a
well-publicized means of obtaining the source code.
Derived
Works
Modifications and derived works must be allowed, and
must be distributed under the same terms as the license of the
original software.
Integrity
of the Authors Source Code
The distribution of modified
source code must be allowed although restrictions to ensure the
possibility to distinguish the original source code from the derived
works are tolerated. For example, the possibility of using different
software names.
No
Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not
discriminate against any person or group of persons.
No
Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must
not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific
field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from
being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
Distribution
of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to
all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for
execution of an additional license by those parties.
License
Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights given by the
license must not be different for the original distribution and any
other one even when it takes place in a totally different context.
License
Must Not Contaminate Other Software
The license must not
place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with
the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that
all other programs distributed on the same medium must be
open-source software.
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