What is FOSS?
This FAQ applies to: All
What is Free and Open Source Software?
The acronym FOSS is used to encompass software classified as either "Free" or "Open Source". Although the terms seem to be analogous, there are some subtle differences yo should be aware of.
Free Software
- Is software that can be used, studied and modified without restriction. Historically this software was termed "public domain" software and effectively it means the author has given up their copyright over the code. See the Wikipedia definition here.
Open Source Software (OSS)
- Although often thought of as "Free", and technically it is, this software is licensed and subject to usage restrictions. Typically these restrictions are an attempt to keep the software "Free", rather than to lock the software down or make it commercially valuable to any one organisation. So the license to use the software is typically the opposite of what one would normally expect from a commercial license applied to proprietary software.
Typical OSS Licenses
You can find a table of software licenses and how they are deemed in the context of the above definitions on the Wikipedia page referring to FSF (Free Software Foundation) approved software licenses.
