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Open source and proprietary software

OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) · Computer systems (Paper 1) › Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts › Impacts of digital technology

Practise Open source and proprietary software. 12 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.

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Sample questions

Written for this site in the style of OCR exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.

Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) State what is meant by open source software.[1]
(b) Which statement describes proprietary software?
Tick (✓) one box.[1]
  • Anyone can change the source code
  • The source code is not available to users
  • It is always free of charge
  • It does not have a licence
(c) Give one example of proprietary software.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)
  • software whose source code is made available so that users can view, modify and share it
(b) Answer: The source code is not available to users
(c)
  • Microsoft Windows / Microsoft Office / Adobe Photoshop / macOS / most commercial games
Question 2Medium4 marks
Describe two advantages and two disadvantages of open source software for a user.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
  • advantage: usually free of charge
  • advantage: can be modified to suit the user's needs
  • advantage: a community of users may fix bugs and improve it quickly
  • advantage: the code can be checked, so users can see exactly what it does
  • disadvantage: may have no official support
  • disadvantage: may be less polished / less user-friendly / have fewer features
  • disadvantage: may have compatibility problems with other software or file formats
  • disadvantage: updates depend on volunteers and may stop
Question 3Hard4 marks
A charity with very little money needs office software (a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software) for its 20 volunteers.
Recommend whether the charity should use open source or proprietary software. Justify your recommendation.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
  • recommends open source software
  • open source is usually free, so the charity saves the cost of 20 licences
  • it can be installed on every computer, including volunteers' own computers, without breaking a licence
  • help is available from online communities / forums
  • possible issue: volunteers may be used to proprietary software / files from other organisations may not open perfectly
  • proprietary software would offer professional support and familiar software, but licences for 20 users would be expensive

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