The Advantages of Free Software: Why You Should Consider Using Open-Source

There are many advantages for people, companies and the society with regard to using free software, which is called sometimes open-source software.

Among the great benefits of free software is the empowerment users have in using a free program of their choice; these users have freedom to use the product in any number of ways. People who use proprietary software often give up a lot of features of software - and rely on a corporation controlling the application - because they don't have the ability to change it or customise it to fit their needs. Free software users have the right to run, copy, distribute, study, and modify the program. They are free to share - to give away or sell - these free applications.

A final benefit of free software is collaboration and innovation. Since the source code for free software is available to everyone, developers across the globe can tinker with and add to it. This leads to a global community of developers constantly working to improve the software. This makes for better software that is more robust and feature-rich which is once again good for users.

Collaboration and innovation are also promoted by free software, as the source code may be seen by many developers anywhere in the world. In this way a global developer community has a chance to work on free software, whether to develop or improve it. The users benefit from this, as the users have access to more feature rich and able to live longer software.

Finally, it can promote access to technology and ease digital inequality. Proprietary software is often expensive to purchase. Lots of people can't afford it, and some simply can't; in those cases, free software is available to everyone, rich or poor. And with everyone able to use and share it, it means people who would otherwise fall behind obtain access to technology, and digital inequality is levelled.

To summarize, there are numerous benefits to using free software, including better control over the program being used, increased innovation and teamwork, more stable and secure software, and increased access to digital equality and technology. For these reasons, it is worthwhile to consider using free software whenever possible.