| Free and open source software has become the | | | | you have to provide access to the source code that |
| newest craze in business and IT world. The second | | | | you have modified or added. It is however not |
| question 'is it good for my business' now takes a | | | | necessary to release source code of the |
| secondary position. Both business owners and | | | | modifications made to the original program if it is not |
| managers agree to the use of free and open source | | | | distributed or sold. The developer company is free to |
| software. The real buzz about open source is not | | | | use it for their own in house purposes. Whenever |
| hyped by any corporation or company. It is a group | | | | they sell it in the market, they have to license it |
| of self motivated IT professionals from across | | | | under Open Source agreement. Open source |
| America and Europe are behind this newfound | | | | software projects, in most cases attract the fancy |
| attraction of open source software. The main | | | | of skilled developers from around the world. They |
| advantage of open source software is that the users | | | | actively participate in collaborative development, fixing |
| have full control over the source code of any | | | | bugs and adding useful features. The end result will |
| program delivered under open source license. Now | | | | be a completely different software, may be many |
| people become more and more sensitized about the | | | | times useful than the original one. jbilling Free Open |
| advantages of having access to the root of a | | | | Source Billing Software ( remained the most active |
| program. The main advantages that come with | | | | projects from among 137,389 open source software |
| access to source code are Flexibility or adaptability, | | | | projects (as on Dec. 1, 2006) at SorceForge.net for |
| control, lowest possible costs, long term usage and | | | | quite a long time. SourceForge.net offers a |
| upgrading without additional costs. The business | | | | collaborative environment for software developers |
| house has to pay for coders and developers though. | | | | develop open source software and is a source code |
| Anyone is free to make any changes to software | | | | repository which presently hosts many thousands of |
| suites or programs released under Open Source | | | | Open Source projects. Open Source Billing Software |
| License. Anyone can add, edit and make modifications | | | | project by jBilling has really picked up momentum and |
| to make the program work in any imaginable manner. | | | | the present version 1.0.4 is available for free |
| The modifier is also allowed to resell the software. | | | | download at their website. |
| Only restriction on such an open source license is that | | | | |