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The Godfather of Free Software:Richard M Stallman (rms)
Founded the GNU (GNU’s Not Unix) project in 1983 in response to being denied access to source code for an early laser printer driver
Founded the Free Software Foundation in 1986Wrote the General Public License (GPL) v1 in
1989, v2 in 1991Author of the GNU compiler (gcc), emacs and
several more
Definition of Free SoftwareRichard Stallman’s “4 freedoms”: Run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0)Study how the program works, and adapt it to
your needs (freedom 1)Redistribute copies so you can help your
neighbor (freedom 2)Improve the program, and release your
improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3)
General definition of open sourceBruce Perens created the Open Source
Definition, a general definition encompassing most Free software licenses
His main agenda is to educate business about open source software, to make a business case rather than a social one
Free vs. freeOpen Source and Free Software are very
similar (but not identical) and the definition can usually be interchanged.
Free software’s capital “F” is used to denote 2 meanings of free:
1. Free as in free beer2. Free as in freedom (the ability to use,
distribute and modify the software as you wish)
Common examples of Free SoftwareLinuxJavaMediaWiki (i.e. WikiPedia)ApacheAsteriskFreeBSDOpenOffice.orgMozilla FirefoxAudacity (audio editor)
Common LicensesGeneral Public License (GPL) v2 – most popular
license Examples using v2
Linux kernelThe GNU software suite (gcc etc.)MySQL databaseJavaAsterisk (PBX software)60+ % of the software on freshmeat and sourceforge
Common LicensesGeneral Public License (GPL) v3Newer, not as popular yet
OpenOffice.org v3+
BSD License – least restrictive licenseExamples
Free BSD Open BSD PostgreSQL database
Apache license – similar to BSD license• Examples• Apache Web server• Most popular Web server on the
Internet
Why use Free Software?Freedom
If you are a coder, you can modify the software any way you like to do anything you want
If you are a user, you can install the software on anything you like, as many times as you like (No CD keys or “activation”)
Free• Software is freely available at no cost
Why not use Free Software?No “throat to choke”
Free software no official corporate support, you are responsible for fixing it if it breaks or pay a 3rd party for support
You must share your code too–With GPL software, any modifications or
enhancements to GPL software that you distribute must also be licensed under the GPL and be made available to everyone. (This only applies if you distribute the code outside your organization)
Open Source In The Enterprise
Where We Are Today
Josh EppsDirector of Information Technology
Fickling & Companywww.fickling.com
Top Projects
Everyone Loves Statistics“85% of enterprises have already adoptedopen source”
-Gartner“45% of those enterprises are using open
source in mission critical applications”-Forrester