"Open source software can offer benefits to both the Australian Government and wider community, such as improving interoperability and possible cost savings."

The guide itself also seeks to define open source and dispel what the government views as common misperceptions about the software, such as its confusion with public domain software, shareware, community source software and freeware.

"Open source software is often linked with open standards; however, not all open source software products use open standards," the guide reads.

"Another common misconception about open source software is that it can always be obtained free of financial cost.

"When open source software is labelled as 'free', that word refers to the ability of people to read, modify and redistribute the source code of the software, not the cost of the software.