Each week, I log onto WordPress and write my blogs. And I often wonder how I am able to customise my theme with a touch of a button. I am able to create a free blog and make it look aesthetically pleasing as I want. But how?
This is where the Open Source Software (OSS) comes into play. OSS refers to something that can be modified and shared because its design is publicly accessible. A site with a source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance means they have adopted the open source system. So, linking it back to where I started with this blog, WordPress allows me to customise my blog’s theme through their OSS. Similarly, android systems, OpenOffice and Java are three other companies that use this software.
As for the Closed Source Software (CSS), this is the software distributed under a licensing agreement to authorised users with restrictions. For example, Apple is the biggest company that uses CSS, and is evidently shown when the user updates their software that requires an agreement of the terms and conditions. Most of the time, the T&Cs for Apple are pages long, and 99% of users don’t read it. This is a problem because there is a large percentage of people who put their data and personal information at risk by not reading exactly what they’re agreeing to.
For more information, read the links below:
