The precise definition of the terms "free software" and "open-source software" applies them to any software distributed under terms that allow users to use, modify, and redistribute said software in any manner they see fit, without requiring that they pay the author(s) of the software a royalty or fee for engaging in the listed activities. "Free and open-source software" (FOSS) is an umbrella term for software that is simultaneously considered both free software and open-source software. 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 terms FLOSS, free or libre.įurther information: Alternative terms for free software Free-software licenses and open-source licenses are used by many software packages today. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux and descendants of BSD are widely used today, powering millions of servers, desktops, smartphones (including Android), and other devices. Other benefits of 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. This is in contrast to proprietary software, where the software is under restrictive copyright or licensing and the source code is hidden from the users.įOSS maintains the software user's civil liberty rights via the " Four Essential Freedoms" of free software. A screenshot of free and open-source software (FOSS): Fedora Linux 36 running the KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment, Firefox, Dolphin file manager, VLC media player, LibreOffice Writer, GIMP, and KCalcįree and open-source software ( FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software, where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source code is publicly available so that people are encouraged to improve the design of the software. For other uses of "Floss", see Floss (disambiguation). For other uses of "Foss", see Foss (disambiguation). "FLOSS", "FOSS", and "Free and Open-source" redirect here.
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