But what is the real difference between open source and closed source software? Is open source source software just about saving money? Let's investigate. Let's say for instance you find a bug in the latest version of Mozilla Firefox. The bug is causing a major project to fail and you need to fix it right away. This is not very likely to happen, I realize, but it's just an example. You might take the following steps: Step 1. Download and unzip (or uncompress) the source code from Mozilla. Step 2. Use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a debugger to find and fix the bug in the source code. Please note that you will need to know a little C++ to debug applications such as this. Step 3. Test the fix and then use a compiler to turn the source code into a binary file. This can take a long time for big programs. Once the source code is compiled then the program should work! Step 4. You are almost done. Now send the bug fix back to the Mozilla Firefox team. They may even use your bug fix in the next release! Now imagine you find a bug in a proprietary code base such as Microsoft Word. What can you do? Not much, just file a bug report and hope someone fixes it at some point. This is a rather radical example, but I think it illustrates to a large degree why programmers generally prefer open source software to closed source alternatives. Good programmers love code and they want access to it. Hiding the code from a programmer is like hiding the car engine from an auto mechanic. We don't like it!