Today I’m going to take it all the way back to FOSS fundamentals and look at one question which a lot of people who are unfamiliar with free and open source software ask.If you already know the FOSS basics (I guess the majority of our readers here), you might want to skip over this one, it’s pretty basic.

In particular, one question often arises - why should I use FOSS over a similar proprietary solution?

Now a lot of this is buried in the history of the free software movement. Arguably, the most important person in this area is Richard Stallman.

His definition of free software is any bit of software that

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Any program whose licence gives these rights is considered free and any one that doesn’t is considered proprietary. >>>>>>