FOSS SIG Home

This SIG attempts to cover all FOSS applications. The acronym FOSS covers lots of territory. Free and Open Source Software includes everything from free-to-use commercial software to truly-free open source applications. 

Free software is copyrighted and may be used in accordance with an included licensing agreement. Free includes JAVA, Acrobat readers, Flash players, Real Music players, etc. We are not free to modify or reverse engineer the software. Sometimes this type software is referred to as free beer, something to enjoy right now.

Open Source software, or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form without restriction, or with minimal restrictions. Free software is generally available without charge, but can have a distribution fee. The source code must be available along with a notice granting the above permissions. Such a notice either is a free software license, or a notice that the source code is released into the public domain. This software is referred to as having freedom to use it as you like. Over 30,000 open source software application packages exist in common repositories.