Open source software refers to computer programs with source code available for anyone to inspect, modify, and distribute. Unlike proprietary software, open source software is developed collaboratively by a community of developers. One of the main benefits of open source software is cost savings. Because the source code is freely available, organizations can use and customize the software without paying licensing fees, reducing costs, especially for large-scale deployments.

Today, open source software is everywhere – from Linux-based servers, to Android smartphones, to the Firefox Web browser, to name just a handful of open source platforms in widespread use today. But the open source code driving these innovations doesn't write itself. It's developed by open source contributors – and you could be one of them.

Today we’re launching Fair Source, a new approach to software sharing that is safe for companies to adopt and developers to use. Before Fair Source, companies that wanted to engage the developer community with their core products often did not know how to do so while maintaining control over their roadmap and business model. The result is that most software products today are closed-source. With Fair Source, companies have a new option. The Fair Source option is not theoretical.