Do You Know What Open-Source Software Is?

At the end of July, WavePad Sound Editor was highlighted as the Download of the Day by the good people over at Think Digit. We are always thrilled when WavePad gets recognized, and they did a great job of highlighting the amazing features in their review while recommending you download and try the audio editor. But one of the things they said made me pause. The intro says, "There are a few very good reasons why we love WavePad – it’s simple, it's free, it's fast and it’s open-source." This is an absolutely wonderful quote except for one thing: WavePad isn't open-source. There is a lite version of WavePad that is available for free for non-commercial use in addition to the Master's edition, and I can't help but wonder if people equate free software with open-source, especially when there are technology writers out there who are falling into this trap?

What is Open-Source?

The most basic definition of open-source is that the source code of an application is made freely available. This allows outside computer developers to make improvements or customizations to that source code and create new versions of the software. There are additional requirements for software to truly be open-source, and if you are interested in the topic a good place to learn more would be at the Open Source Initiative. So you can see that because NCH Software doesn't make any of the underlying code of our programs available, even though we have several free software applications, we don't meet the criteria of being open-source software.

So while it is true that we aren't open-source, we are still very proud of our WavePad audio editing software and we are open to suggestions if you have any ideas you want share with our development team. And in the mean time maybe today is a good day to download WavePad and find some of your own reasons to love this wonderful little audio editor.