Can someone explain in a concise and simple manner the difference between freeware,free software,open source?

Freeware is software offered free of charge, downloadable off of the Internet. If the software requires the user to view ads while using the program, it is technically not freeware but adware. Freeware is also different from shareware in that shareware requires a payment if the software is to be used past a trial date.

Though freeware does not require financial compensation, it does have a user license or EULA (End User License Agreement). Each license is specific to the freeware it is bundled with, but some restrictions are common to most programs. For example, most freeware forbids the user to alter the program, repackage it, or sell it. It might allow redistribution, however, as long as the program is unchanged and the license agreement intact.
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Free software is software that gives you the user the freedom to share, study and modify it. We call this free software because the user is free.

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Open source- In general, open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

2) Open Source is a certification mark owned by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Developers of software that is intended to be freely shared and possibly improved and redistributed by others can use the Open Source trademark if their distribution terms conform to the OSI’s Open Source Definition. To summarize, the Definition model of distribution terms require that:

* The software being distributed must be redistributed to anyone else without any restriction.
* The source code must be made available (so that the receiving party will be able to improve or modify it).
* The license can require improved versions of the software to carry a different name or version from the original software.

The idea is very similar to that behind free software and the Free Software Foundation.

free software is a generic term that can mean freeware or open source.

Freeware means free as in beer. You get it free of charge, you consume it, and you’re done.

Open Source means free as in speech. Not only do you get the beer for free, but you get the recipie for free. If you know how to brew beer, then you are free to change the recipie and brew your own beer too.

In computerland, Open Source means you get the “source code”. This means that if you are a programmer, then you can change the software however you want. With Freeware, you do not get the source code, so you cannot make changes to the software.

Open Source is typically safer than freeware or even commercial software. If someone puts spyware or something else malicious into freeware or commercial software, then nobody knows. With Open Source, there are thousands of programmers all over the world looking at the code, so if someone put something bad into the Open Source program, then other programmers would sound the alarm.