If you have ever wondered what "Open Source software" means, what Linux is, what the difference is between Open Source software and "freeware", or why so many people in the Open Source movement (yes, it's a movement!) seem to dislike Microsoft so much, read on... The idea behind Open Source is very simple, but there is a degree of subtlety in it's application to the world of software that leads to a lot of misunderstanding. To understand what Open Source is really about, and why people are so passionate about it, you need to understand a little bit about how computer programs work. Most computer programs are written in compiled languages. A programmer writes a set of instructions - the program code - in a plain old text file. Program code may not be comprehensible to the average computer user, but it is human-readable: int main() { Power x(4.0, 2), y(2.5, 1), z(5.7, 0); cout << x.getPower() << " "; cout << y.getPower()