My thought of open source is software that I can contribute to in some sort of way which I learned to be a very narrow view of an extensive concept. It is interesting to see how there is a difference between free and open software through a perspective that isn’t entirely focused on writing code. Open source provides both advantages and disadvantages. With open source software, vulnerabilities are found and fixed more frequently with more eyes to look at the code. On the other hand, with the code being more widely available, vulnerabilities are easier to exploit as well. My priority with open source software is being able to contribute to them and that is what I am hoping to learn through this class. I want to contribute to open source software but it can be intimidating so hopefully this course will introduce it to me.

One open source software that I use and know of is Bitwarden. The fact that it is open source has been an advantage of Bitwarden as a password management service. There are many open source programs that I used and didn’t know were open source. Python is a language I use extensively yet I didn’t know it was open source. Filezilla is also open source and I have used it for my coursework. Eclipse is something I use to develop programs in Java and was surprised to find out to be open source. Overall, there are many open source programs that I use in my daily life without even realizing it. Through this course I might even be able to contribute to one of them.