In general, open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. (Historically, the makers of proprietary software have generally not made source code available.) Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

Open Source is the result of a long-time movement toward software that is developed and improved by a group of volunteers cooperating together on a network.

Under the Open Source Definition, Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code licenses must meet ten conditions in order to be considered open source licenses. Details on the above are available at Open Source Initiative.

1. Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold. (This was intended to expand sharing and use of the software on a legal basis.)
2. Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable. (Without source code, making changes or modifications can be impossible.)
3. Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no one can be locked out.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
7. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.

Some Technologies & Tools which are considered open source are

• JAVA
• Joomla
• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
• Eclipse
• Perl
• Python
• Ruby
• etc...

Take a look at our Skill Summary for information on the open source technologies we work with.