Open source : the electronic equivalent of generic drugs

Open source: the electronic equivalent of generic drugs

Like the generic drugs that have transformed health care provision in the South, open source software is royalty and license free, and is therefore substantially cheaper to acquire than branded alternatives. The reason for this is that open source software is developed by volunteer collectives who are not seeking to profit from its sale.

In addition, just as the recipe for generic drugs is made public, so the source code or inner workings of open source software is accessible to the user. Any qualified person can see exactly how the software works and can easily make changes to the functionality.

- IICD Open Source in Africa Briefⁱⁱ