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Open Source is software that you control, rather than software that controls you. Its source code is available under a copyright license that permits you to study, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form, if you wish to do so. The effect is that you always have full access to all aspects of your software. You can make the changes so that software does do exactly what you want. You can adapt it to your needs so that you do not have adapt to the limitations of the software.
While this is great for programmers, it has also important effects for people employing open source software in their organisation. The most important are:
