Let's call software the programs you run on a computer.
The browser you're reading this in is software, the operating system you use to run the browser on is software.
The ethernet card or wireless network connector you are using is hardware.
All software is written in some form of code whether it is Perl, Java or C++ or assembly language. This is called the source code.
Proprietary software is often sold, i.e. you often have to pay for it, and is closed source. The source code is not available for the Windows XP operating system nor is it available for MS SQL server.
Source code is freely available for the Linux operating system and for various programs that run on Linux.
A lot of end users find that concept worrying and have stayed away from Linux and Open Source Software as a result.
Proprietary software is always released under a license. With some proprietary licenses, even moving the installed software from one machine to another is heavily governed by specific procedures.
Open Source Software is released as open source. For the average end user this doesn't actually mean very much. You still have to install the software either by download or from other installation media (e.g. CD/DVD). You still have to learn how to use it. That aspect is no different to Proprietary software. So it doesn't make your job any easier in that respect.
The difference in Open Source Software is the way in which software problems or bugs are handled and the way in which development and testing happen.
With Proprietary software the end user or their employer pays for license to use a copy of the software and this payment might involve some end user support. Any testing is internal to the software provider and bug reports are hidden from the purchaser and end user.
With Open Source software, bug reports are openly available so if you are having a problem you can at least check whether it is you or it is a bug in the software. Testing is performed by people in the user community and the development community who have the skill to test or the willingness to learn how to test and report bugs. So there is a possibility you could take part, either by reporting a bug or by testing new releases. But you don't have to; although every involvement, every contribution, helps, it isn't compulsory. You can simply be a user of the software.
Because the software is open source it can be downloaded and developed on. A lot of open source software is distributed under the GPL license. This allows you to download the source and modify it in some way.
This is something that upsets a lot of people. The immediate response is that irresponsible people will download the software source code, modify it to do horrifically horrible things and submit these modifications. These horrifically horrible things will then be compiled into the software and then redistributed to any poor unsuspecting soul using the software.
The reality is quite distant from that scenario. There are many developers working world wide on various open source projects. All these projects are governed in some way by project and team leaders. Too many people work on too many projects for any of them to allow someone to upload poor code, let alone damaging code. New maintainers and developers certainly aren't let loose on a whole project straight away - as within any organisation, privileges have to be earned and there are rules of behaviour. Breaking these rules can mean exclusion or no further inclusion - ever.
Open source projects get quite strict about that.
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