The code for the application developed & freely distributed along with the app. Hence programmers can download, modify, or correct code and make their contribution to a software package. The project application developed on co-operative open-source effort, so no company or institution has control over it. The development environment is global, and software protected by public licenses. No commercial company after modification can sell a product or copyright changes.

Significant software development projects include:

  • KDE, GNOME, Netscape Navigator
  • OpenOffice suite supported by Sun Open source project based on StarOffice suite.
  • The Linux Foundation – the non-profit organization: The Linux distributed by the general public license GNU GPL provided by the Free Software Foundation, which retains copyright, i.e., free licensing software with its modifications. Applications & code is freely available on gnu.org, sourceforge.net & opensource.org. Most Linux utilities like C & C++ compilers (LISP), shells (BASH & TCSH), TeX, Ghostscript document formatters and editors (vi & Emacs) are GNU application software applications. The organization enables mass innovation through open collaboration. In 2000 IBM announced full support to Linux, effectively de-emphasizing the path of Linux proprietary operating systems.
  • FINOS is a diverse community of developers, financial, and technology industry leaders committed to making contributions that will enable the open-source to flourish in financial services. The large and small fintech firms leverage open source to innovate new technologies, ranging from cloud computing to decentralized networks and blockchain to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning). The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), led by Executive Director Gabriele Columbro joins Linux Foundation to accelerate the adoption & development of open-source software, standards, and best practices in the financial services industry. The Linux Foundation agreed to acquire the FINOS operating assets to enable these efforts.
  • The GNU lesser general public license (LGPL) lets commercial applications use GNU licensed software libraries.
  • The qt license (GPL) lets open source developers use the Qt libraries essential to the KDE desktop.
  • Other open-source environments: Android, WordPress, Apache