Open Source Software (OSS) is software that is freely distributed by its author in source code form. Open source software allows anyone to look at the code, modify it if needed, and use it without licensing fees. Open source software is often created by a user community for its own personal and business use. The OSS development model is responsible for some of the greatest success stories in commercial software, including:

• TCP/IP (the software protocol on which the Internet is based)
• Apache webserver (about 46% of all web servers, #1 in category)
• Firefox web browser (24% of all browsers, #2 in category)
• Unix/Linux operating system (about 6% of all PCs, #2 in category)

Open source software (for many different purposes) is written, contributed, and supported by many of the largest tech companies in the world, including:

• Google
• HP
• IBM
• Microsoft
• Novell
• Oracle

Open Source software offers the following benefits:

• independent of any one supplier or vendor
• based on open standards and technologies
• interoperates with a wide variety of systems
• easy and free to evaluate for organizational fit
• no licensing or maintenance fees
• customizable to meet your exact needs (you have source code)

OFBiz is not the only Open Source ERP system, but it is one of the best. It has the following advantages:

• large feature set, see OFBiz Features
• In rapid and continuous development since 2001
• Vibrant and active development community
• Large installed base of business users
• Built in Java, based on XML standards
• Database-agnostic: works with most major databases
• Database architecture based on Universal Data Modeling
• MVC web application server, used with standard web browser