The term 'open source' refers to computer software that has been built by a global community of volunteers who make the source code freely available. Unlike the more widely known proprietary software model, whereby a software product is owned by a single company and users pay license fees to use it, open source gives users a freedom that no proprietary software will ever offer – this includes the freedom to obtain, modify and distribute the software.

Open source software embraces the philosophy of sharing. With open source, concepts such as piracy are not a problem. In fact, you are encouraged to share and spread open source software as much as you like.

The open source license states that you may copy and re-distribute the software even after modifying it. This provides users with a freedom not obtainable from proprietary software and creates tremendous opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs around the world, especially in developing countries.

Open source software can be downloaded for free from the Internet. But there are also many other ways to obtain open source software, such as specialised computer-club type organisations, such as Linux user groups.

It is for these reasons that the Foundation advocates the use of open source software; through providing effective and affordable access to information and communication technology, we believe that South Africa is one step closer to transitioning into a knowledge based economy. Research has proven that open source software can greatly assist social development, the top ten reason why open source software helps to build society are encapsulated here:

1. OSS supports ICT spending with local companies. OSS supports ICT spending with local companies, keeping that money ‘onshore’ and thereby encouraging a valued, employable skills base to flourish domestically, which in turn keeps educated and skilled workers at home and encourages other educated and skilled workers to immigrate, drawing in talent.

2. OSS induces a shift from package customisation to systems integration, which leads to increased competition and empowering of SMME's. FOSS, by recognising participation in software development at the level of the individual and not the corporation, and by shifting the value capture within the ICT industries from proprietary software development or packaged software sales to customisation and integration of existing OSS, also furthers the success of small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs), which can create opportunities for entrepreneurial success of SMMEs, and drive job creation as well as grassroots economic empowerment.

3. OSS encourages hands-on, self directed and experimental learning of ‘primary source’ material (i.e., source code) with peer-based support mechanisms for guidance and feedback, an empowering way of learning that is particularly important in an information society.

4. OSS operates on open standards, which is well suited for a knowledge economy. OSS also provides, encourages and self-regulates a set of rigorous and broadly applicable standards and mechanisms for collaboration, quality assurance and distribution of ICT product (i.e., software), an empowering and team-oriented way of producing products, particularly well suited for the products highly valued in a knowledge economy, and proven across a range of industry sectors.

5. OSS is readily adapted for local languages. Existing FOSS can readily be adapted for local languages, reducing barriers to access and to the mastery of skills while helping eliminate the marginalisation of those from cultures not ordinarily possessing a high level of fluency in one of the world’s major languages.

6. OSS counters the dependence on multi-national corporations and developed countries. Each of the above five benefits above also help counter a psychology of dependence on developed countries and corporations to provide the innovations and solutions to problems faced domestically, even as OSS helps reduce that dependence in practical terms.

7. OSS helps to balance 'bare-knuckled' competitive market forces with collaboration, allowing 'co-opetition' and resulting in economic development. Supporting the collaborative and communal culture of FOSS development also helps to balance the bare-knuckled culture of market competition in the ICT industries, supporting both social and economic upliftment.

8. OSS raises the profile of the developing world. Participating in the OSS community raises the profile of the developing world, helps to demonstrate its capabilities and its desirability as a progressive, technologically literate and knowledge-savvy nation, and provides a greater degree of participation in and access to the global ‘quick response’ teams addressing criminal hacker and virus threats. Ultimately this participation should lead to peer based relations, thus narrowing the digital divide.

9. OSS shifts competitive advantages to those companies offering excellent service and support. FOSS shifts the competitive advantage among ICT companies to value creation for the customer, removing recurring revenue streams such as licensing upgrades and ancillary software purchases (e.g., for interoperability within a proprietary operating system or application suite) that benefit firms having longevity in an industry and that subsidise those existing firms to the disadvantage of SMMEs and start-ups who cannot compete on equal footing. The latter situation promotes a lock-in of economic winners in a global industry, thereby reducing market competitiveness as well as global economic transformation.

10. OSS helps develop a culture of openness and transparency. The nature of open technologies can help move forward a culture of openness and transparency in government as well as society, promoting public access to government by facilitating information sharing and interoperability of ICT systems among stakeholders, and enabling government to be accountable to the people without instead being beholden to the proprietary software and standards of a private corporation.

It is our aim to facilitate, support and fund initiatives on a corporate, private and government level that lead to the awareness, uptake and growth of open source in South Africa.