Open and Closed Source Systems

Open and Closed Source System POS 355 Open Source Operating Systems The following paper will discuss open source and closed source computer systems that are used in today’s technology world. These systems are available with licensing rights as well as with the source coding available for use. Computer software that is available with the source coding for redistribution is known as Open Source Software (OSS). The computer software source code contains all of the modifications and the works needed for redistribution.The licensing of the open source software allows the users to learn more about the software by upgrading, modifying, and making any necessary changes to the software without costing the user any money. The open source software also provides the user the ability to share out the software without any costs being involved. Currently there is variety of open source software available for users in the technology environments. These categories of software are but not limit ed to server software, operating systems, application software, and programming language software.There are many items under each category of software. For example, application software contains web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Office Suite for office applications, and 7-zip for decompressing zip files. Some operating systems that are included are Linux and Android OS. Closed Source Operating Systems In today’s technology environments, there are types of software that restrict the user’s ability to broaden the software use in many different environments. Closed source software is also known as propriety software.This software is only available without the source code and is licensed under limited rights, which is provided only by the copyright owner of the software. The purchaser of the closed source software is authorized to use the software without the ability to modify, upgrade, update, or make any necessary changes while utilizing software. The propriety softw are is typically only owned by a single organization that possesses the only legal rights needed to modify the software use.The only method of making any changes to the software would be to purchase a change of any type directly from the copyright holder. In other words, the proprietary software is the property of the owner / developer / publisher that cannot be copied or modified, with an appropriate price and need to comply the license agreement (National Taiwan University, 1991). These types of changes in most cases are very costly and are not an everyday occurrence. There are many examples of closed source systems.These examples are but not limited to Microsoft Server 2000, Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 7. Most computer systems today are solely operated by some sort of propriety software. In conclusion, Today there is various uses for many types of software systems in all networking machines. Prior to purchasing system software, one must be educated on the type of software t hat is being purchased. Lack of education on software may cause issues if changes to system software are needed later on down the road.If a user needs to be able to make changes to their software, the user will have to have purchased open source software in the beginning. If no changes will ever be needed, closed source software will be sufficient for their system. References Stallings, W. (2012). Operating systems: Internals and design principles (7th ed. ). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall. Open Source Initiative. (n. d). The Open Source Definition. Retrieved from: http://opensource. org/docs/osd