Quiz Of The Week: What is the source of open-source?

Everybody likes free stuff. From freecycle to “buy one, get one free” offers, getting something for nothing is a great feeling. It is not surprising that free software has become an important part of the IT ecosystem. What is surprising, however, is the sheer number of people that are willing to spend sleepless nights writing code to give away to their neighbours. Who are not going to even say “thank you”.

Thank you open source!

So we will say it on their behalf: THANK YOU, OPEN-SOURCE DEVELOPERS!

Open-source software, as has often been said, is not free as in “free beer”. It is free as in “free speech”, a liberation from the toils of proprietary software makers.

Open source software is available in source code form. Anyone can take it apart, change it, improve and distribute without paying a penny. You can even sell it, as long as you obey the rules of the licence.

Test your knowledge of the open-source software.

Take the Quiz!

And if you score well on that quiz, try some of our others.

Max Smolaks

Max 'Beast from the East' Smolaks covers open source, public sector, startups and technology of the future at TechWeekEurope. If you find him looking lost on the streets of London, feed him coffee and sugar.

View Comments

  • "One thing you absolutely, positively cannot do with open-source software is sell it."

    What???????????? You absolutely can! And, Stallman would be the first to agree.

    Either, i have missed something, or the author needs to get a clue about what they speak.

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