Free and Open Source Software is it ready? PICTI 19/9/2006
Hanna Kreitem
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Expectations
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OpenSource ?! Open Source Software/Free Software programs are
programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run the program
for any purpose, to study and modify the program, and to
redistribute copies of either the original or modified program
(without having to pay royalties to previous developers). FSF
freedoms: The freedom to run a program, for any purpose; The
freedom to study how a program works and adapt it to a persons
needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this; The
freedom to redistribute copies so that you can help your neighbour;
and The freedom to improve a program and release your improvements
to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the
source code is a precondition for this.
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OpenSource Philosophy Promotes open access and sharing.
Promotes collaborative work. Not only limited to software:
Education: OpenCourseWare (MIT), OpenCurriculum. Community and
development: TakingITGlobal.org Media: LiveJournal, WikiNews,
blogs. Open source movies: Elephant's Dream, World's first open
movie. directed by Bassam Kurdali. OpenCola, OpenBeer. Wikipedia,
Wikitionary, Wikiquotes, Wikibooks.
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History 1960's and 1970's CS labs, the community of programmers
shared improvements. 1970's and 1980's, began to conflict with
propriety software. 1984 GNU project was born, various tools. FSF
established later. 1991 Linus Trovalds write a UNIX-like kernel,
Linux, which will fomr together with the GNU tools an operating
system (GNU/Linux). 1997/8 GNU/Linux exploded into press spotlight,
with 25% server market share and high growth rate. OpenSource came
out.
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Development Method The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1997, Eric S.
Raymond) Cathedral Conventional closed source development Central
planning. Tight organization. One process from start to finish.
Developers spend time on finding bugs and handle feature requests.
Bazaar Main Open Source development process. Grows organically.
Anyone can submit suggestions and discuss them. Users are treated
as co-developers. users can point directly to bugs, even fix
it.
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benefits of the OpenSource development method Reduced
duplication of effort. Building upon the work of others. Better
quality control. Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
Reduced maintenance costs.
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Why OpenSource? (Benifits) Less dependence on imported
technology and monopoly. Ability to customize/translate/and
localize software. Building Software capacity: Low entry barriers,
excellent training system. Participation in global network of
software development. Less vulnerable to viruses and attacks
(Faster Actions). Open Standards/Formats -Vendor Independent.
Reduced Piracy (IPR, WTO). More reliable/stable. Looks good!
Reduced costs - affordable software for individual, enterprise, and
government.
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Cost saving example
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Maintenance and updates Average time required * per
machine.
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Shortcomings of OpenSource Lack of some applications,
alternatives available, but still. Interoperability with propriety
systems (non-open standards). Polish and not user friendly!! nah,
look at this desktop.
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OpenSource and Governments Governments are increasingly
embracing the use of open source software. Brazil, France, Germany,
Argentina, Spain, EC, China, Finland, South Korea, India, Taiwan,
Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa
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Break
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Linux Linux is the most frequently heard FOSS buzzword in the
mass media today. However, because of its common usage, the term
Linux has been used to refer to broader and broader definitions. It
is important to understand the different definitions of Linux to be
able to follow the discussions on FOSS. Linux the kernel. Linux the
distribution: contains the Linux kernel at its heart and all the
FOSS components required to produce full operating system
functionality
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Linux Tour
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Where can one obtain Linux? Most Linux distributions are free
and downloadable from the Internet. The following is a table of
some of the most popular distributors of Linux: Popular Linux
Distributors Debian www.debian.org Redhat www.redhat.com SuSe
www.suse.com Mandriva www.mandrivalinux.com SlackWare
www.slackware.com TurboLinux www.turbolinux.com The advantages of
going with distributions of Linux are many. The single most
important advantage of vendor Linux over stock Linux is that it
saves users time, and provides ready to use set of
applications.
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OpenSource Business Solutions Examples: OpenXchange. Apache.
(65%) MySQL. Tomcat. BIND (90%). OpenOffice. CRM: SugarCRM,
VtigerCRM DMS: KnowledgeTree, Alfresco. OpenSource Business
Solutions Suse Linux Enterprise Server/Desktop. Netbeans / Eclipse.
Wiki, Yahoo, Google, Hotmail. Firefox. Blender. Asterisk. GCC. Wide
range of business ready applications are available under opensource
licenses. Advantages include open standards, cost saving.
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Selecting OS Solution Reputation On going Effort Standards and
Interoperability Support (Community/Commercial) Version (1.0?)
Documentation Skill set License Coverage.
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Is it Ready? You have: Accounting Database Word Processing
Spreadsheet Presentation Preparation Browsers Email Graphic
Manipulation Drawing And MUCH more...
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IPR and Licensing FOSS is released under a variety of different
licenses. There are two primary types of licenses and countless
variants. The GNU General Public License and the BSD-style
licenses. GPL: Users are allowed to do pretty much anything they
want to a GPL program, including copying, distributing and
modifying. The conditions of the license primarily affect the user
when it is distributed to another user. BSD: These are among the
most permissive licenses possible, because they basically permit
users to do anything they wish with the software as long as:
Attribution is given to the original licensor by including the
original copyright notice in source code files; and No attempt is
made to sue or hold the original licensor liable for damages.
BSD-style licenses do not require the distribution of source
code.
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Can FOSS be combined with propriety software? Yes,
Free/Libre'/OpenSource software can be combined with propriety
software with no problem. For example, you can run propriety
software on Linux (Oracle on Linux)