If you're watching this video,
you probably use some kind of software on a day to day basis,
and it's pretty likely that this software was made by a company.
Sometimes, it will be a company made up of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide,
and sometimes, it will be five friends in a house in Palo Alto.
What you may not be aware of is that there's another type of software,
created and maintained by users -
the people who needed the tool in the first place,
and used their skills to build it.
This is called "Open Source" software,
and it can be tweaked, added to,
or improved by anyone.
That means that it's build on a collaborative approach to problem solving:
if you see something wrong,
you don't have to just report an issue and hope someone fixes it,
you can go straight in and do it yourself.
It's a simple idea, and it's not really that new -
in the 50s and 60s,
all software was shipped with a copy of its own code,
so that users could fix problems on their own.
However most software companies don't do that anymore -
many of them guard their code pretty aggressively.
But the idea has stuck around,
and in many ways it's been instrumental
to the development of modern computing.
You may even be familiar with some of the resulting software,
without realising it's open-source.
Browsers, media players, operating systems -
it's everywhere.
And that's before we even look at the architecture of the internet itself,
most of which runs on open-source platforms.
So far, that all sounds great. But what about security?
If anyone can poke around in the code and see how it works,
presumably that makes it pretty insecure.
Well actually, this transparency is exactly what makes
most open-source software much more secure than other kinds.
Instead of blindly trusting that the software you're using is secure,
you can actually check that it is...
and do something about it if it isn't.
Now, with so many people involved, things could get complicated financially.
Say I've contributed two lines of code
to the next huge, world changing open-source source project.
How am I going to make sure I get my cut of the license fee?
Well, I won't.
Because there is no license fee!
With some notable exceptions, open-source software is free to use,
which means that all of the people contributing are doing so
without direct financial reward.
And while it might seem crazy working on something for free,
this is where the strength of open-source lies.
Yes, it's secure.
Yes, it's free.
And yes, both of those things are awesome!
But they're also kind of beside the point.
Because the real value in open-source software
comes from the community surrounding it -
usually made up of talented and passionate people,
contributing for any number of reasons.
It could be simply to develop their own skills,
in pursuit of a hobby,
or in support of a cause they really care about.
But these types of contributions are only half the story.
Many large organisations depend on open-source,
and a huge amount of open-source contribution is sponsored in some way.
Companies hire developers to use and contribute to open-source software
because it accelerates their work.
These companies then contribute back to the wider community,
and encourage others to do so as well,
because they know that a rising tide raises all boats.
For most businesses trying to solve a problem,
there comes a time when you have to make a call:
to build your own software, or to buy a package that fits your needs.
This can be a really tough decision to make, because it means
weighing up the expense of building and maintaining your own software
against buying a pre-made solution,
that could be cheaper, but might not exactly fit your requirements.
Open-source offers a third option, combining the best of both worlds:
You have a piece of software, ready to go,
but you can also shape it to ensure your goals are achieved.
We've talked a lot here about the benefits of open-source,
and what makes it so powerful.
In order to really drive that home, I'd like to give you a real-world example.
In the late 1950s, the three point seat belt design
was invented by Nils Bohlin,
an engineer working for Volvo, in Sweden.
The company quickly patented the design,
but what Volvo did next was somewhat unexpected.
The opened up the patent, and made it free to use.
This meant that anyone who wanted to utilise the three point seatbelt
could do so at no charge.
It adopted by other manufacturers,
and over the course of the next 20 years, it became law in many countries
that all road users must wear the seatbelt while driving.
That basic design hasn't changed in the 60 years since its invention,
and to date, it's estimated to have saved
somewhere in the region of one million lives.
In many ways, this is open-source thinking in its purest form;
a great idea by one person, which is shared freely
in order to improve things for everyone.
Open-source brings together talented minds,
allowing everyone to make a contribution
to ensure we see our values in action.