Open Source Software Open-Source Software

Open Source Software

Open-source software

Open source software has been in existence for some time as a reaction to restrictive copyright laws on software use. This type of software is generally freely available to the public, under certain types of license agreements. The main advantage of open source development is the number of users that can be involved in the improvement of such software, for the ultimate advantage of the general public. Many different parties can scrutinize for bugs, for example, which leads to the rapid improvement and development of new products. In this way, open source software provides a platform for the increasing use of technology by increasing amounts of people. Ultimately, it can be said that such software contributes to the well-being of the "global village" concept. Although some researchers have begun to focus on the potential disadvantages of open source software, most are in agreement that it is beneficial for the world and for technology use at large.

What is open source software?

Open source software is generally available to download for free form the Internet. It has source code that is open, and can be viewed and redistributed from an unrestricted platform. The only requirement is that users adhere to the specific license agreements attached to the software being downloaded. These licenses provide the unconditional right to modify the software, and in turn allow unlimited distribution of the modified software. These licenses apply to any user who cares to download the software from the Internet. The word "open" denotes the philosophical sense of "open or free speech" rather than referring to a product that can be downloaded for free, although the latter is generally part of the agreement. Open source software originate when certain communities of users contribute to the development of a piece of software. These communities usually have explicit philosophical objectives. They engage in robust and rigorous development, testing and approval for a successful development outcome and improvements.

Open source software development communities can either participate in the development process voluntarily, or can be paid employees. Government departments or technological companies for example make use of such communities of employees to provide them with development processes. Companies who make use of these communities include IBM, Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems. Being made freely available to the public is consistent with the philosophy of public education, where the software is considered a public good rather than a commodity that can be used for financial gain. While profit is therefore not gained from the public using the software, companies do gain by means of research results associated with the collaborative software development process. Such research could for example result in related products such as product packaging or bundling, technical services,, conferences, books, or promotional materials.

There are many open source software systems currently available. One of the most well-known is the Linux open source operating system, which can be compared to Windows or Windows NT. OpenOffice is an open source application software system by means of which users can engage in functions such as word-processing, presentations and spreadsheets.

History of open-source software

Origins of the OSS movement

The OSS movement can generally trace its roots to the cultural attitude of opposition to restrictions imposed by the intellectual property laws in academic circles within the United States. The exclusive rights imposed by these laws unleashed a wave of protest reminiscent of the counter culture of the 1960s. The movement was also antithetical to commercial exploitation of operating systems such as UNIX during 1970s and 1980s. The system was developed by AT&T employees at Bell Laboratories.

The FSF and the four freedoms

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) was established in 1985 by an ex-MIT academic, Richard Stallman. The Foundation was dedicated to the development of Free Software, and was also a non-profit operation. The functions of the FSF would be to conduct control over the GNU Project, be in possession of the copyright for created software, and enforce all licenses. According to the FSF's rules for Free Software, four essential freedoms had to be included for software to be considered for a license.

• The software had to be run for any purpose;

• The software's function had to be studied and adapted;

• Copies of the software had to be redistributed; and • The software had to be improved, and released with the improvements.

GNU, the GPL and Linux

Stallman announced the GNU Project in 1983. The project entailed a mass collaboration for the purpose of creating Free Software, and in the process to create a full operating system to replace UNIX. The GPL (General Public Licence) was adopted for the GNU software. -- the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). All the components of the project were completed by 1992, with the exception of the operating system kernel, or the GNU Hurd. In the same year, the problem was addressed by combining the GNU software with a new kernel, known as Linux. This resulted in a complete operating system, the GNU/Linux, which was licensed under the GPL.

The OSI and the OSD

During the late 1990s, the OSS community once again made its voice heard by objecting to the anti-IP sentiments of Stallman and other industry leaders. According to these dissenting voices, these sentiments were an inhibiting factor to the widespread use of OSS> Bruce Perensand and Eric Raymond, leaders within the OSS movement, therefore established the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in 1998. The purpose of the Initiative was change the basis of OSS promotion from ethical or philosophical grounds to a pragmatic platform. As steward of the Open Source Definition (OSD), one of the functions of the OSI is to ensure that licences conform to the OSD by means of a review and approval process. Such licenses may take several different forms, while the types of obligations imposed by the OSD could vary widely. Nevertheless, there are 10 OSD criteria for the approval of open source licenses.

Types of Licenses

More than 50 different licenses are available via Open Source Initiative certification. Although each has a specific set of advantages and traits, some are close enough to others to more or less exist as copies of each other.

Most importantly, licenses place requirements on derivative works related to the open source product, or in other words, extensions of and changes to the product. Three basic kinds of requirements can be identified.

Free-for-all licenses. These require credit to the original authors of the products. When derivatives are created, these can be proprietary. Sometimes, these licenses are also known as "academic licenses." The BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) and MIT licenses are examples of this, while the one used for the Apache Web server is also representative.

Keep-open licenses. These licenses require that those who modify the software provide such modifications as open source as well. When larger works are created by incorporating the software, these can remain proprietary. Examples are the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), as applied to libraries under the Linux system, and the Mozilla Public License, for the Firefox Web browser.

Share-alike licenses. Modifications or extensions to software under this type of license must be made available entirely as an open source. The license is also known as "copyleft." An example is the GNU General Public License (GPL) for the Linux operating system and the Open Software License (OSL).

The growth of the community can be affected either positively or negatively by the three license options. A free-for-all license for example provides people with the right to use codes for any purpose, such as Apple's use of the FreeBSD operating system for its Mach system. Problems may begin to occur as a result of the fact that there is no requirement to share code. Competitors can therefore build a proprietary, improved version of the code to the potential disadvantage of market growth and compatibility. This is not so in all cases, however. The Ogg Vorbis project for example releases its reference code for audio and video codecs, since the likelihood that the codecs will become a worldwide standard by means of multiple usage is higher than the risk of competitors creating an incompatible codec.

Open-source software development