The century where we defined the meaning of 'www' and 'internet' were over. Now these technologies turned to be the best flavour tied up with our life. A child even before he stands up for the first time in his life comes in touch with the latest flavour of technology by watching tv and playing with the mobile phone. So the internet is being a big phenomenon.

Last spring, marketer and blogger Hugh MacLeod posted a question on his site: If open source is such a phenomenon, where are all the open source billionaires? His audience wasn't amused.

When I first tell people about open source software, one of the most common questions I get is this: "I just don't understand why people would create software if they don't get paid for it!

The success of open-source software raises a tantalizing question: Could the same design philosophy work for tech gadgets? Open-source software is one of the great success stories of the past few decades.

Canada has a Request for Information (RFI) related to No-Charge Licensed Software (typically referred to as Free and Open Source Software or FOSS and also applicable to freeware). For the purpose of the RFI, No Charge Licensed Software means Licensed Software that is available at no charge for the Licensed Software and is typically made available as a free download from the Internet.

Free and Open Source Software is a wonderful thing. I use it everyday. Whether it is OpenOffice.org for writing this article, using Firefox to do research for this article, or using VideoLAN to listen to some streaming Internet radio courtesy of Ormgas, I know that I am saving money, time, and hard disk space by not using the commercial alternatives.

It has always amazed me how many people pirate. As the well-known anti-piracy video clip says, “You wouldn’t steal a car, you wouldn’t steal a handbag,” but people do regularly steal software and other copyrighted materials. They seem to have an innate belief that software should be free.

If anyone tells you open source can't run a large business or scale, remind them that Facebook is serving a half billion people with a network built on open source code. Quite a bit of it, as Developer.com notes, much of what runs Facebook is open source languages and software.

The good thing about open-source software is that it harnesses the talents of techies around the world. The bad thing about open-source software is that it's too often geared toward such techies, not average folks.