Hey, don’t get me wrong. I am not about to launch into an essay on dental hygiene. Instead, let’s get introduced to “Free/ Libre Open Source Software” – also abbreviated as FLOSS. In the computer world, FLOSS or FOSS (Free Open Source Software) is software whose license give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study and modify the source code, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program– all legally, without paying any royalty to previous developers!!
Source Code is the human readable language in which a computer program is written. The packaged and installed source code on your computer exists as a “binary” or an “executable” form. Conventional, proprietary software just gives you the binary and keeps the source code a secret, lest anybody else learn something from it! This means that the software comes to you like a black box. Its internals – the nuts and bolts that make it are hidden from users. It’s as if you are sold a car that you can drive, but one where you can’t look under the hood. With FOSS software, the source code is distributed along with the binary. Not only are you encouraged to look at the engine that runs the software, you are free to customize it according to your needs. This is what is meant by “open source”.
The free part of FOSS does not necessarily mean “free of charge”. FOSS applications are free in the sense that they do not charge a licensing fee for usage. Most software is usually free to download or available at nominal costs, much cheaper than similar proprietary software.
So why FOSS? What are the benefits of FOSS? Innovations are often created by combining pre-existing components in novel ways, which generally requires that users be able to modify those components. FOSS software gives innovators this freedom to experiment without spending time on reinventing the wheel from scratch. FOSS software gives you freedom – freedom to run it as you wish, freedom to make changes to it and freedom to help your community, so that others can benefit from your work.
The FOSS movement is spearheaded by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Stallman’s ideas about FOSS took birth when the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) where he was working was not able to customize a Xerox printer to suit his needs because Xerox refused to share their precious source code with him. Here’s how he gives an interesting analogy to put forth his thoughts about proprietary work.
Imagine what it would be like if recipes were hoarded in the same fashion as software. You might say, “How do I change this recipe to take out the salt?” and the great chef would respond, “How dare you insult my recipe, the child of my brain and my palate, by trying to tamper with it? You don't have the judgment to change my recipe and make it work right!”
“But my doctor says I'm not supposed to eat salt! What can I do? Will you take out the salt for me?”
“I would be glad to do that; my fee is only $50,000.” Since the owner has a monopoly on changes, the fee tends to be large. “However, right now I don't have time. I am busy with a commission to design a new recipe for ship's biscuit for the Navy Department. I might get around to you in about two years.”
His experience with Xerox prompted Richard Stallman to propose the following for software:
• Liberty - every user should be free to copy, diffuse, modify a program, either to share it with others, or to adapt it to his own needs.
• Equality - every person should have the same rights on the software.
• Fraternity - the whole computing community should be encouraged to cooperate and thus to produce software that is more reliable and useful to all.
• Source code access – that should allow the understanding, adaptation, correction, distribution, improvement of the software.
Friday, January 11, 2008
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