What Do You Mean By Open Source?

Pretty much, it’s self-explanatory, the ‘Open Source’. But, there still is so much beneath to understand how it evolved to what the future holds? Soon we are going to learn about that but before that let’s understand how and why it is critically important to mobile app developers and mobile app development companies.

Open source is a means of software language or framework available to the developers or users easily at no cost. Of course, for it to be an open source language or framework, needs to follow certain guidelines and protocol. Moreover, it still remains highly beneficial for developers as they are able to inspect, modify and enhance the code and spread their own program version as they please. It is a forum where users can contribute and collaboratively use the entire or part of the code that is necessary as per their requirement.

Neither there is a licensing fee nor any restrictions which allows the mobile app developers to work with transparency and use the program as they want. They can also make the desired number of copies of the original program to circulate. Constantly evolving technology in the programming language front led many from the software industry and top mobile app development company to believe in the huge potential which later evolved as open-source languages and frameworks. However, any software framework or language needs to abide by certain criteria such as:

1) No-Cost Distribution

The license allows any user to sell or share a part of software declaring it as a constituent of a whole software distribution including various programs from different sources. Additionally, the license should not incur a royalty or any other such fee.

2) Source Code

The program must contain the source code with distribution properties mostly in the form convenient for the programmer to further modify it. Purposefully putting a deceptive form of source code is not allowed.

3) Derived Code

The license shall allow the resultant work or code to be spread under the same terms as the license of the original software.

4) Source Code Integrity

The sub-set of your software derived from the customized source code should also have the distributing attributes from the license. You might also need to consider to label it with name or version that is different from the original software.

5) Equal For All Fields

The license is required not to differentiate between the person from making use of software in a particular field. For e.g, no discrimination should be observed if it is used for business or research work.

6) License Distribution

The elements of the program should be valid for all to whom the program is redistributed. It should not require any additional license or permission by those parties. Neither it should be product specific nor it should bind its distribution with other licensed software.

7) Maintain Balance

The provision of the license is not supposed to be inferred on any individual technology or style.

Summary:

The future of open-source has just started to flourish. Top mobile app development company such as Moon Technolabs, is constantly involved in understanding the unexplored aspects of open-source languages and framework so as to provide cutting-edge solutions to clients who are in a need of their own business mobile app.