As it is defined in Wikipedia, “open source” software is software that provides the source code. The source code which is copyrighted by the holder is available to all users. Therefore, the users can edit the software. When people hear the term “open source” software, they immediately think of Linus Torvalds, who founded Linux, a UNIX based operating.

Examples of open source software are Perl, PHP, and Python, which are computer programming languages.  Another example is Linux, which is an operating system. Also, Apache, which is server software, and OpenOffice, which is a desktop application, are examples of open source software

Actually, it is not appropriate to whether open source is better than proprietary software because both have benefits. Open source developers get the software and they are not doing that for profit, which is the sole open source’s copyright. However, proprietary software companies‘main intent is to profit. If they don’t work to protect their product, somebody will steal the software and sell it, in  which case they will lose their money they have invested in and their entire job.