Open Source Software meets gene expression.

Use of the Open Source Software (OSS) development model has been crucial in a number of recent technological areas, including operating systems, applications and bioinformatics. The rationale for why OSS is often a better development model than proprietary development and some of the results of this model in the field of Gene Expression are reviewed. The paper concludes with a discussion of why funding agencies should endorse OSS and require funded software projects to be released Open Source.