Free and open source software (FOSS) refers to computer software that is released under a license that allows users to use, modify, and distribute the software freely.
“Free” in this context refers to the freedom to use the software for any purpose, to study how it works, to modify it, and to share it with others. This means that users have access to the source code, which is the underlying code that makes the software work, and can modify and distribute it as they see fit.
“Open source” refers to the practice of making the source code of software freely available to the public. This allows users to see how the software works and to contribute to its development.
There are several reasons why PoeticMetric is open source:
For about 20 years, web analytics has been an area where the tools businesses use are actually the agents for big corporations to collect and analyze the people's behavioral data, and auction it to the highest bidder in the name of "advertisement". We have been using these services simply to see what our customers find useful on the website, and maybe the data alone from a single website would cause no harm. But in the big picture, the personal data collected from many websites combined are used for foreseeing that person's future behavior. And this prediction is sold to the corporation who is willing to pay the topmost price.
Free and open source software is the best way to prevent this misconduct. PoeticMetric is fully free and open source web analytics. So, anyone can go and check its source code to see what data is collected, and more importantly, how it's handled.
Free and open source software (FOSS) allows the development and improvement to be carried in a collaborative and decentralized manner. If someone finds a bug, notices an issue, or just comes up with a way to improve PoeticMetric, they can easily make the changes they need to on the codebase. And PoeticMetric welcomes contributions: So if the change is not specific to their use case, these change will be applied to the original repository and everybody using PoeticMetric will benefit!
In addition to the collaboration aspect, free and open source software enables and encourages forming a strong community, too. Since everybody is able to access the source code and understand what is going on, people can ask others for help when they face an issue.
The innovation benefit of free and open source software lies in the fact that it enables a collaborative approach to software development. Unlike proprietary software, where development is often closed and carried out by a small group of individuals, FOSS allows anyone to access the source code, modify it, and contribute improvements back to the community. This results in a vibrant ecosystem of developers and users working together to innovate and create better software.
Because FOSS is created in a decentralized manner, it often attracts a diverse range of contributors, each bringing their unique perspectives, skills, and experiences to the table. This diversity of input and collaboration can lead to novel approaches to software development, resulting in innovations that might not have been possible in a closed, proprietary development environment.
FOSS also allows software to evolve to meet community's needs, rather than the interest of a small group of companies or organizations. This community-centric approach leads to more innovative and effective solutions to real-world problems, as developers are able to contribute to the software in a way that will solve their problems.
By fostering collaboration, diversity, and community-centric development, FOSS has the potential to drive significant innovation and progress.
The security benefit of free and open source software stems from the fact that the source code is publicly available, allowing for a transparent and collaborative approach to software development. This transparency enables a wide range of developers and users to review and audit the code for potential security vulnerabilities, which can be quickly identified and addressed by the community. This stands in contrast to proprietary software, where the source code is closed and accessible only to the organization that developed it, making it more difficult to identify and fix security issues.
Contributions by community members are rigorously peer-reviewed by the core contributors. This enables PoeticMetric to maintain its codebase standards, and a certain code quality. This core contributor supervision approach also helps to keep PoeticMetric secure.
Yes. PoeticMetric is available in two forms:
Service and self-hosted versions are exactly the same product, they share the same codebase. The only difference is that, you fully deploy, manage and maintain the self-hosted version yourself.
Self-hosted guide is yet to be written. For now, you can check the self-deployment example on the repository.