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Is google documents open source and what does open source actually mean?

I need to know if it's open source because in ict in school we have to use open source software so I thought google documents would be great because you don't need to install anything which is great. If it's not open source do you know anything like google documents that you don't have to install which allows word processing?

Public Comments

1. No. Open source means that the source code is free. This means that people who program and edit software can edit the source code and make certain programs that work with the software. Open source software is also free. Google documents is free but that does not mean it is open source. An open source program similar to Microsoft Office or Google Documents would be Open Office. Look that one up. It is free and open source.
2. google documents is not open source. Open source means that any programmer who knows how to modify the program can go in and change it in order to (theoretically) make it better. Open Office offers a free Word processor but you have to download it and install it. I'm not aware if there's a such thing as an open source word processor that can be used online.
3. Open Source means the source code is free available to every one who want to look at the source code. An open source programme is mostly developed by an community. And that is Google Documents definitely not. An open source word processing programme is abiword http://www.abisource.com/ If you want it portable (use on a cd or an usb stick) you could go to http://portableapps.com/apps/office/abiword_portable or try open office portable http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable
4. Open Source means Any software application or source code free to use, develop/edit, distribute(free only) without any licence. Modern days a lot apps are going online.As you say about Google office which is built over java(servelet) base. "Zoho Office" is another online office app free to use having more functions as compared to google office. Another online apps wid eg. Online Photo Editor:- www.pixenate.com Online Sound Editor:- www.online-sound-editor.qarchive.org
5. Open source means that the code is freely available, so anyone can make changes to it, ideally improve it, and distribute it. I believe that Google docs isn't open source though a lot of their other software is. A similar product is ThinkFree (http://www.thinkfree.com/) which, like Google Docs offers an online office suite. Another alternative is AbiWord Portable and OpenOffice Portable (both available from http://portableapps.com/apps in the Office section) which allow you to run either a word processor (in regards to AbiWord) or a whole office package (OpenOffice) from a USB drive. As nothing is written to the registry when these programs are used, it is technically not installed, but I don't think that this is what you mean by 'don't have to install'. I have included it nonetheless.