Do you like free things?

 Unless you are the top 1% in this country, you would be lying if you said no.  Being a software developer, I love it when I get to download software free of charge, especially since software costs nowadays can put a big dent in your wallet. 

Even though the act of sharing source code for projects has been around for almost as long as the internet itself, the term “Open Source” was not adopted until the late 1990’s. Open-Source software is software that users can download for free to study, modify, distribute, or simply use. Most users simply just download the software for use; but if you are an adventurous one, you can help track down possible bugs in the software and improve it so that users can have a better experience. Before you know it, you might get inspired by the software’s idea and go create a similar project of your own; however, if it greatly resembles the project, you would have to distribute it for free.

If you take a look at the programs on your computer, you might be surprised at how many are open source. Some of the more popular open source software, and also my personal favorites, are: Firefox, a customizable web browser lets you fiddle with its huge  collection of advanced settings through the well-known “about:config” URL, TrueCrypt, a powerful disc encryption program that lets make everything from USB to HDD harder to break into than Fort Knox, Audacity, the all-powerful audio editor that can do anything from converting audio file types to performing thorough analysis on any sound file, Notepad++, a text editor that can view a very wide range of file types including the ones you deal with on a daily programming basis, and last but not least, Ubuntu, a widely used Debian-based Linux Operating System that is even popular among windows fans such as myself.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to a site that you probably already know, sourceforge.net. This amazing website is where I go to get the majority of my open source software. Here is where you can find the latest distribution of a wide variety of projects, from games to security and science, and the best part is that it’s all free! So the next time you feel like contributing back to the community that brought to you the free software on your machine, you can start here.