The industry today is witnessing a sea-change in the way software is developed. Open Source has been the driving force and the concept used for software development. The success of Open Source has drawn the attention of corporates. Industry giants like Sun Microsystems, IBM, SGI and many others have realized the potential and benefits of this approach.

The Internet is no longer just a playground for nerds and enthusiasts who use the Internet for email and browsing. Today it has emerged as a powerful medium and serves as a platform for software development. One has seen the success of this great movement in projects like GNU, Apache, Linux, Samba, KDE etc. which has produced some of the best software.

Undoubtedly the Open Source is a wonderful phenomenon that has changed the development scenario and promises to change the face of computing.

Open Source Technology

Open Source is the new 'mantra' of development these days.
Open Source Technology, unlike a monopolistic, closed room approach, gives the opportunity to millions of developers to improve the software.

The last decade has also brought in a unique "open door" or open way of developing software mainly on the web wherein developers across the world work together to improve the quality of the software. We have also understood the evolution of many popular products like Apache, Samba etc. There have also been lots of UNIX variants developed under the gnu/free environment.

Operating systems like Linux are prime examples of this phenomenon.

Linux.

Traditionally, software projects are developed by a closed group of developers. The source code is not accessible to anybody outside this closed group.
Sometimes, in fairly large projects, even the developers do not have access to the complete source code.
Today much software is developed on the Internet by developers who are spread across the globe. The source code to the software is freely available to be reviewed and improved by anybody who has the knowledge or the interest.
Apache, KDE, GNOME etc. are some examples of such an approach. Open Source refers to any software that is developed in the open and distributed in this manner.

Linux is perhaps the best known example of the success and virtue of such an approach.

Linux is an operating system which believes in the open-source technology.
Here, the source code is openly available for rectifications/modifications/improvements. It also facilitates direct interaction between the developer and the end user.

Linux therefore promotes a 'free software which is open for modifications/improvements.
No wonder, the system is gaining tremendous popularity within a short span of time.

It has for various reasons gained popularity in a very short span of time which has made it the 'talk of the town' today. This classic combination of open source solutions has given rise to a stable, low cost solution for most computing needs.