Programs like gimp and open office are open source but,I really don't quite know what that means.I know the source code it suppose to be available but where?And if I could do something with it I've never seen ANYTHING about how to edit open source programs.Can I add menus take some menu option away?
well source code is the code that is used to create the program. if you don't already have an idea of what is going on, its a little hard to explain. but basically source code is human readable and eventually gets turned into a binary file this binary file controls electrical signals which makes the program work.
as far as what you can do with open source software, the only limit is your skill as a programmer and your imagination guiding your goals.
where you get source code depends really. thopen source office softwareere are some sites like freashmeat and sourceforge which stock pile code, i even think google has a "code library"
but most of the time you go to the web site of the project. for example if i wanted GNU grep i would usually start off googleing "GNU grep" and end up at grep's page within the GNU project and find links to download mirrors for the source.
To edit ANY program you would need to be an experienced programmer. Open source or not. Open source means it is provided under a licence to freely distribute it as long as you do not alter the terms of licencing. And declare any changes you make as your own, accepting full liability for any damage done by those changes. And make the source code available. It is generally provided for download at the originating site.
Open Sourcopen source office softwaree code can be modified, altered and changed in any way you like, however the catch is you must provide this for other people to use and change the way they want it to be. The idea is to improve the Open Source code and make it better.
Gimp is a very good prime example. Some one has taken all the different menu windows and incorporated all of them into one single screen and you not longer have menus scattered all over the desktop. Ideas like this make the program better and improved. Find some thing that needs worked on and improved.
You can do just about anything && everything you want [Sort of]
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Give credit to others' works, take credit [responsibility!] for your works, free distribution.
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The Open Source Definition (Annotated)
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