Introduction to Open Source Software Jeremy Hayes

ARE WE TALKING ABOUT FREE SOFTWARE?

NO – OSS is not Free Software Richard Stallman American software freedom activist, hacker and software developer. Founder of the Free Software Movement Remember: Free is used as in “Free Speech” rather than “Free Beer”

SO, WHAT IS ‘OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE’?

Source Code Binary Code

Firms seek to protect their Intellectual Assets – Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights In the software industry… this means keeping your source code ‘Proprietary’

THE VILLAIN OF THE PIECE

“Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” (Winston Churchill)

Microsoft is an example of ‘Closed Source’ or Proprietary Software You licence a copy of MS Vista or MS Office Microsoft fight hard against software piracy And why not? They spend millions on R&D… So what’s the problem?

BSOD

SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT OPEN SOURCE?

Linus Torvalds (Our Hero)

Linux – Operating System – Torvalds posted code on the internet and invited other developers to improve it. – Tens of thousands of developers have worked on it (Open Source Community). – Collaborative developments between software writers – Worldwide workforce of enthusiasts – Surprisingly, the software developed is stable enough to be used by commercial organisations

But surely unpaid‘volunteers’ couldn’t produce something so useful?

‘Many eyes make bugs shallow’

Linux OS – Has been adopted by end-users and by established hardware vendors such as IBM and HP which supply it as an option with their computers. – Sony, Nokia, Philips Medical, JP Morgan are just some of the firms using Linux for mission critical activities. – Market Share 2007 Servers: ~35% Desktops: ~6%

Another useful Open Source Product

Mozilla Firefox Netscape Navigator was the dominant Internet Browser Lost Market Share during Browser War of late 90’s Released source code in 1998 Led to development of Firefox

Browser War Microsoft bundled (gave away) Internet Explorer browser with Windows Cut off ‘air supply’ to Netscape US Vs Microsoft – Found that MS used its monopoly position to crush opposition – MS should be split into two companies – Overturned on appeal 

OSS in Munich May the city of Munich decided to oust Microsoft Windows from the 14,000 computers used by local- government employees in favour of Linux, an open-source operating system. Although the contract was worth a modest $35m, Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, interrupted his holiday in Switzerland to visit Munich and lobby the mayor. Microsoft even dropped its prices to match Linux – a remarkable feat since Linux is essentially free and users merely purchase support services alongside it.

OSS in Munich Microsoft still lost – The city did not wish to place the functioning of government in the hands of a commercial vendor with proprietary standards which is accountable to shareholders rather than to citizens. Modern governments generate a vast number of digital files. – From birth certificates and tax returns to criminal DNA records, the documents must be retrievable in perpetuity. So governments are reluctant to store official records in the proprietary formats of commercial-software vendors. This concern will only increase as e-government services, such as filing a tax return or applying for a driving licence online, gain momentum. In Microsoft's case, security flaws in its software, such as those exploited by the recent Blaster and SoBig viruses, are also a cause of increasing concern.

OSS in Munich Government purchases of software totalled almost $17 billion globally in 2002, and the figure is expected to grow by about 9% a year for the next five years. Microsoft controls a relatively small part of this market, with sales to governments estimated at around $2.8 billion. It is a crucial market, because when a government opts for a particular technology, the citizens and businesses that deal with it often have to fall into line. (In one notable example, America's defence department adopted the internet protocol as its networking standard, forcing contractors to use it, which in turn created a large market for internet-compliant products.)

SourceForge

SourceForge Medical Science Apps

GET READY FOR ‘OPEN EVERYTHING’

Peer Production alternative model for organizing production without reliance on markets, managerial hierarchies, property and contracts characterized by the decentralized accumulation and exchange of information potentially superior as a mechanism for discovering/applying human skill and knowledge to the creation of information resources. Includes; – collaborative authorship (e.g. Wikipedia.org), – user generated content and meta- content (e.g. YouTube.com, Del.icio.us), – and various forms of ‘open innovation’

Recommended Reading: Chapter 1 and 2 from “Understanding Open Source Software Development” by Joseph Feller and Brian Fitzgerald (Boole Q Fell) Raymond, E. “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” /writings/cathedral- bazaar/ /writings/cathedral- bazaar/