OSS and open standards

If you have ever worked in any IT position, there is a high chance that you’ve come across the term open source software (OSS), know what it means, and very likely already used some.

What is OSS?

OSS is when the source code of the software is publicly accessible and anyone can study, modify, and distribute it for any purpose.

Software cannot be considered open source simply because it can easily be found on the internet or can be downloaded from the darknet. Software is open source when it is released under one of the open source licenses, such as Apache 2.0 or GNU General Public License v3. Those licenses grant users the right to make modifications to the source code or even use it for commercial purposes. That’s right – you can use OSS to build new software and sell it without paying any license fees to anyone. Alternatively, you can modify existing OSS, add new features, and sell it or offer related support services.

While...