The best place to get this answer is from the source, http://www.opensource.org/
"The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits."
If you are interested in a more complete definition please read the following page:
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
And for specific definitions or just to see a list of approved open source licenses:
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/
"The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits."
If you are interested in a more complete definition please read the following page:
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
And for specific definitions or just to see a list of approved open source licenses:
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/
