What this concept means for hardware like routers is both that you can install your own software or firmware on the device to chance its functionality as well as access the design schematics and plans to make changes to produce different devices. What this concept means for software is that you, as a user, can acquire the source code and read it to see exactly how a piece of software works. The concept of open source derives from the user having direct access to the goods and knowledge of a product. That simply means that a program reads the source code and produces an executable program that your computer can understand. For programs on your computer, for the most part, they have to be compiled before they are executed. For programs on your computer, like Notepad++, OpenOffice or the GIMP this language could be Java, C, Visual Basic or. For web programs like phpList, WordPress or Gallery, this language could be a scripting language like PHP or Perl. What is open source? At the heart of all software lies a programming language. Most of the software covered is open source, and in this episode, we’re going to discuss open source software, explain why it doesn’t necessarily mean free software, and argue why there is an imporant difference. One of the ways this goal is accomplished is by reviewing software that performs a novel or important function. One of the reasons AuctioneerTech exists is to make life easier for everyone, including auctioneers.