If techno-speak means nothing to you and if you paid for all the software that you use on your computer, you may shrug this article off. But you might read on, as the creation of free, or "open source," software has become an established and viable movement. Although you cannot invest in open source businesses, you can donate to its causes. And many people do donate their time, money, and skills to advance open source product development, and this involvement means that open source growth may affect the tech software market.

Allow me explain open source, to illustrate how widespread this movement has become, and I'll then share some information about how this not for profit sector intends to grow. Although the open source and pay-as-you-go software development models haven't met head on in the past, the open source movement is strong enough now that it eventually may influence how paid software is developed and marketed in the future.

Although the U.S. government has resisted the open source movement in the past, in 2004 Bruce Mehlman, the assistant secretary for technical policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce, stated, "The Penguin has landed." If you're a true blue geek and an open source advocate, you know that Mehlman meant his government institution was finally allowed to use an open source operating system for their computers. The Penguin is the mascot for Linux, a Unix-type computer operating system that was created originally by Linus Torvalds in about 1991. This operating system operates under a GNU General Public License, which means that the code that makes this operating system function is free, open, and available for the public to use and to modify.

Linux offers just one example of what is known as "open source" software programs that have revolutionized some government and educational offices and personal households. Institutions and individuals have latched onto programs that cost nothing to use, little to maintain, and that are highly competitive operationally against pay-to-use software programs. According to one 2005 report [PDF], the number of open source projects available to developers and users is a "staggering" 30,000 projects registered at Freshmeat, 70,000 projects at Sourceforge, and 5,400 Perl modules available at the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. You can bet those numbers have risen substantially over the two years since that report was written.

The problem with many open source software programs is that they have been limited to geek usage over the past decade, as the ability to understand, install, and utilize the programs was too complicated for the average person. But, with the introduction of such offerings as Open Office, average computer users have begun experience how it feels to use a free software program to create their documents and spreadsheets.

While visible source code and a right to make relatively unencumbered derivatives from any open source software remains invaluable to developers, now the average user can benefit from a technological movement that has become reliable and useful. One glance at the article "How the Open Source Movement has Changed Education" reveals that the open source movement has infiltrated colleges; but a search for more information reveals that K-12 institutions have embraced this movement as well. Although Linux steals the show under the "operating systems" category in that article, Ubuntu is rapidly reaching out to the general public.

Ubuntu, an African word that means 'Humanity to others,' provides a community atmosphere for their operating system users. But Ubuntu goes further, because it offers a desktop version of the software for users who cannot or who will not download an operating system on their computers. The desktop doesn't change the computer, but its interface allows users to utilize other Linux-based free software that's designed specifically for Linux-based systems.

This new development - one that reaches out to the mainstream educator, student, office, and home user - includes a universal perspective. Many open source software programs compete to provide its offerings in as many languages as possible and in venues that are easy for the computer-illiterate to use. As Ubuntu states in its manifesto, "The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world."

Open source software does contain disadvantages. Upgrades are just as ubiquitous as those provided by paid software systems, but the open source software upgrades are?yes, free. And maintenance for open source programs can be difficult to obtain for some programs, although a new service that caters to open source maintenance for the business sector has begun to flourish. Most of those services are not free, but a price comparison among software tech services reveals that most of the open source maintenance programs are less expensive than or competitive with non-open source maintenance program prices.

Much has changed over the past two years as the open source movement has become more popular among businesses that want to pay less for their software and its licenses (including the government) and among individuals who can now utilize open source programs. Although non-open source companies have begun to offer "freebie" downloads that enhance their software programs, this offering just isn't enough for many users.

The individuals who have migrated to the open source movement seem to be divided into various camps. There are those who use open source software as a means to voice anti-corporate sentiments. Then there are those who cannot afford costly software, yet they need to function professionally against their competitors. Finally, the new products within the open source movement offer a way for non-geeks to branch out and try new products and services.

This last group, the average computer user, is the one to watch. As more average users come face to face with open source software at their schools and offices, the more this movement may affect how the tech sector does business. If non-open source software companies don't alter how they compete against open source programs, the tech software sector may suffer.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin