The benefits of open source software are a driving force in software development now reaching into the world of federal software acquisition. As the name implies, OSS is software that is distributed in human-readable, source code form so that any skilled programmer can understand its design and make modifications to the software.
Two major benefits are that OSS code can be readily “reused” in new contexts, and the software community may contribute bug fixes and enhancements to the software. The downside to software copyright owners is the possible loss of ownership rights, control and valuable trade secrets by releasing the source code.
For full article, click here.