Difference between revisions of "Free and open-source software"

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'''Free and open-source software''' also known simply as '''Free software''' or '''Open source software''' is a development model involving loose networks of people connected by the internet who collaborate to create and evolve software that is also made freely available for anyone to use. Not only is the end product available to all but the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] used to create it is can be freely viewed and modified as well. This is the code that commercial software firms normally keep secret. '''Free software''' is not the same as '''freeware''' or '''shareware''' which although might be free to download, it is not usually distributed with source code and is likely have a restrictive copyright license.
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Making source code available means anyone with the programming ability can customise the software for their own ends or contribute to the development project directly. Others can help by reporting bugs and helping with documentation or translation efforts. So this encouragement of interaction between users and developers, and user ''becoming'' developers, creates a positive feedback loop in the software's evolution. Open source is becoming a very prominent method of software production and poses a serious challenge to commercial products - as the quality of open-source software approaches and supercedes commercial software, how will software companies compete with free?
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The word 'free' in the title isn't referring to the cost of the software, although it is usually that too, it means users have the freedom to use the software as they wish, modify it and redistribute it.
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== What goes around comes around ==
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[[Image:OS logos.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Free and open-source software/List of some major open source projects|Some major open source software projects]]]]
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If the software is useful to many people then there is a wide audience who can get involved. People are motivated to contribute because the result of their work benefits many people. Someone putting in effort on an open-source software project knows there are similar minded people putting in effort on other software projects that will be useful to them also. So what goes around comes around.
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==Maximum utility==
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The fact that thousands of other people are able to make use of the software having put in no effort themselves and haven't paid any money simply isn't an issue - after all it effectively costs nothing to replicate the software and the open-source developers are only too happy that it is proving useful to a wider audience. It is truly maximizing it's utility.
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Commercial software that has restrictions on what you can do with it, such as not giving a copy to your friend, imposes an artificial scarcity on it in order that they can charge money for it. In the world of bits and the internet this commercial model doesn't make much sense and starts to break down.
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{{detailed tour|Free and open-source computer-aided design|Examples of free and open-source software}}
 
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Because of the mutual benefits, open source projects encourage collaboration on an almost unheard of scale, as well as promoting rapid evolution and stability of the applications being developed (one might normally consider the last two properties as being mutually exclusive). There are now high quality open source projects filling every major category of software application, including entire operating systems for your computer.
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==Beyond software==
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This methodology is not limited to software. A noteable example beyond software is the 'open content' [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia], the famous collaborative encyclopaedia which is accessible and editable by anyone with a web browser. It founder ambitiously states that he wants to capture the knowledge of all humanity - and it is a most impressive start. It was started in 2001 and is now the largest and most comprehensive encyclopaedia in the world grown organically by the contributions (and editing) of thousands of users, and the overall quality of articles on the whole is surprisingly good. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html See this article from the journal ''Nature''].
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With a few built-in mechanisms to make sure the project doesn't dissolve into total chaos, the result is that this pool of knowledge is assembled and edited by people who want to do it and is now an amazing resource for anyone wanting a basic introduction to almost any subject. No-one is paying them to do it and no-one is telling them to do it, they contribute because they want to. It feels like the right thing to do - they are contributing to something greater. Contributors' know their efforts will be used and appreciated by thousands of other people, and that others are doing likewise.
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It is apparent that these methods could also be applied to the design of physical machines and artefacts. With this development model designs, photos, instructions and CAD models are stored on the internet for others to use and improve upon. Design and engineering is arguably even more suited to this method than software design. This is because looking at a CAD model (especially if animated) allows an intuitive understanding of how the object functions, whereas software is composed of reams of (often obscure) programming code.
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For further information on the open-source method applied to design and engineering see [[open collaborative design]].
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== External links ==
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*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software Wikipedia article on the subject of free software] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source open source]
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=== Organisations ===
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*[http://www.fsf.org/ Free software foundation] (FSF) website
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*[http://www.opensource.org/OSI Open Source Initiative] (OSI) website
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=== Documents and articles ===
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*[http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html FSF Free software definition]
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*[http://opensource.org/docs/definition.php OSI Open source definition]
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*[http://catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar The Cathedral and the Bazaar] - an interesting essay on why the 'bazaar' model of open-source software development works well.
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=== Software links ===
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*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages Wikipedia list of open source software packages]
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*http://www.linux.org Free and open-source operating system
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*http://www.OpenOffice.org Free and open-source office productivity software - word processor, spreadsheer, presentation software, database etc.
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*http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox Free and open-source web browser
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*http://www.gimp.org Free and open source 2D bitmap-graphics editor
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*http://www.blender.org Free and open-source 3D graphics modeller, animator and renderer
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*The content management software that manages this website is open source and is called [http://wwww.MediaWiki.org MediaWiki]; and the server computer that hosts it is running a version of the Linux operating system called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian Debian] which in turn is running the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server Apache http server] program (which runs 60%, or so, of websites worldwide), and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Php PHP] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysql MySQL] database.
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Latest revision as of 03:10, 28 April 2010

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Intro

Free software foundation's GNU logo
Free and open-source software (also known simply as Free software or Open source software) is software created by loose networks of people (both companies and individuals) who collaborate for mutual benefit. The software they produce is also made available for anyone else to freely download, use and modify because the developers also publish the human readable source code 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg used to create it.

Making source code available means anyone with the programming ability can customise the software for their own ends or contribute to the development project directly. Others can help by reporting bugs and helping with documentation or translation efforts. So this encouragement of interaction between users and developers, and some users becoming developers, creates a positive feedback loop in the software's evolution. Open source is becoming a very prominent method of software production and poses a serious challenge to commercial products - as the quality of open-source software approaches and supercedes commercial software, how will software companies compete with free?

Although 'free software' is usually free of charge, the 'free' in the title actually refers to the user's freedoms to use, modify and redistribute the software. It should be also noted that 'Free software' is not the same thing as 'freeware' or 'shareware' which although they might be free to download, do not usually come with source code and cannot be freely modified or redistributed.

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Sections

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Beyond software

Wikipedia logo
This methodology originated with software development but is certainly not limited to it. A notable example beyond software is the 'open content' Wikipedia 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg, the famous collaborative encyclopaedia which is accessible and editable by anyone with a web browser. Its founder Jimmy Wales ambitiously states that he wants to capture the knowledge of all humanity and make it freely accessible to everyone - and the project to date is a very impressive start. It was began in 2001 and is now the largest and most comprehensive encyclopaedia in the world, grown organically by the contributions (and editing) of thousands of users, and the overall quality of articles on the whole is surprisingly good. See this article (2005) from the journal Nature comparing Wikipedia to Encyclopedia Britannica.

With a few built-in mechanisms to make sure the project doesn't dissolve into total chaos, the result is that this pool of knowledge is assembled and edited by people who want to do it and is now an amazing resource for anyone wanting a basic introduction to almost any subject. No-one is paying them to do it and no-one is telling them to do it, they contribute because they want to. It feels like the right thing to do - they are contributing to something greater. Contributors' know their efforts will be used and appreciated by thousands of other people, and that others are doing likewise. It is worth noting that like all encyclopaedias Wikipedia is not a 'primary source' for information and should be considered only as providing a useful introduction to a topic. It is always worth cross-referencing information from other sources too.

It is apparent that these methods could also be applied to the design of physical machines and artefacts. With this development model designs, photos, instructions and CAD models are stored on the internet for others to use and improve upon. Design and engineering is arguably even more suited to this method than software design. This is because looking at a CAD model, especially if animated, allows an intuitive understanding of how the object functions, whereas software is composed of reams of (often obscure) programming code. Architecture is another area well-suited to open collaboration, as the Open Architecture Network has proved.

See also

OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap example
(click to enlarge)
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History

Fsf.png

'Free software' was originated by Richard Stallman 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg in the early 1980s while a programmer at MIT's artificial intelligence laboratory. He was extremely frustrated by the increasing proprietary nature of software which placed restrictions on users wanting to modify or improvement it. Up until the '80s software had generally been freely available as it was the computer hardware that was seen as the commodity.

He thought people would benefit more from having basic freedoms concerning using and developing rather than it being locked down commercially. For any software to qualify as as 'free software' he stated it must have the following freedoms:

  • The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
  • The freedom to study and modify the program.
  • The freedom to copy the program so you can help your neighbour.
  • The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

He then setup the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an organisation to promote these principles.

Osi.png

In the late 1990s a faction from within the free software community created a new term 'Open source' in order to dispel the common confusion over the meaning of 'free' (it refers to freedom rather than cost), and to make this development model appeal more to the business sector who were seen as a major resource in helping evolve this kind of software. Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation have never been happy with this move though, and distance themselves from the new term.

However for most people 'Free software' and 'Open source' are effectively the same thing despite the philosophical wrangling. The combined term 'free and open-source' is used here to refer to the movement generally.

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External links

Wikipedia articles

Organisations

Documents and articles

Software links

There are many more quality free and open-source software listed in examples of free and open-source software...

Footnote

The content management software that manages this website is open source and is called MediaWiki; and the server computer that hosts it is running a version of the Linux operating system called Debian 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg which in turn is running the Apache web server 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg (that serves about 60% of websites worldwide), the scripting language PHP 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg, and the MySQL 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg database.

OpenOffice.org Impress
(presentation)
Miro RSS video feeds player
Celestia space simulator
Click the following button for a list of good quality free open-source software with screenshots: 35px-More_large.png
20px-Printer.jpg[print version] 20px-Update.png[update] 20px-Logo.png [site map]

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