What does Open Source mean?
Open Source is a term used to mean 'completely free'. Some programs are free for the end user to run, but you cannot inspect, modify or sometimes redistribute the software. Open Source software is released under a license (the GPL) that means that you can not only use the software for free, but you can modify it completely or inspect if it has bugs. Although many end users do not inspect the software code or modify it, an Open source project such as Firefox can be inspected by programmers around the world and changed to improve the performance and security of the browser. Also, software can be translated by volunteer translators, meaning software such as Firefox is available in more people's native language.
For the end user, open source means reliability, quick updates, optimised code and stable software. Firefox is the most popular Open Source web browser.
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