Management Information Systems, 13TH ED.
MANAGING THE DIGITAL FIRM
Kenneth C. Laudon ● Jane P. Laudon
continued
Learning Track 4: The Open Source Software Initiative
Open source software is software produced by a community of several hundred thousand
programmers around the world. Open source software is by definition free, available to all who
can download copies from the Internet, but there are many other important dimensions of open
source software described in the following table. A related movement (free software) supported by
the Free Software Foundation supports similar goals of making software freely available with the
restrictions of copyright or patent law (see Chapter 4).
TABLE 1 The Open Source Definition
1. Free Redistribution The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software
2. Source Code The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source
code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not
Chapter 5: IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 Learning Track 4 2
3. Derived Works The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them
to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of The Author’s
The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form
5. No Discrimination Against
Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
6. No Discrimination Against
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a
8. License Must Not Be Specific
to a Product
The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program’s being
part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that
9. License Must Not Restrict
The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed
10. License Must Be Technology-
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or