Open Source Overview: What is Open Source? It is a cooperative system in which programmers share code free of charge. Developers can use Open Source code to develop various applications with the understanding that any improvements they make to the code will then be published for use by others free of charge. What are the benefits? Sharing Open Source code allows developers to create new or improved applications in a fraction of time that it would have taken to program the code from scratch. Clients benefit in the form of lower development costs, time savings and upgrades at little or no charge. In addition, since the code is published and available to the public, you can have any developer work on your system at any time. Applications created using open source code cannot be packaged and sold. For more information about the Open Source philosophy, please click on the following link: OSI Open Source