Computers in Society The Computer Industry: Open Source

Homework The last homework is in the wiki. Due after the break. Read it. You need to get your case approved BEFORE you do all the work – drop me an . After break we’ll be working on the term papers for the rest of the semester.

Microsoft History In what way was Microsoft being anti- competitive with Netscape? Did Microsoft illegally copy code from Netscape? Did users have a choice of what operating system to put on early PCs? How did Microsoft force OEMs to install Windows? What about IE?

The Antitrust Trial What happened at the trial? What happened on appeal? What was the Apple vs Microsoft lawsuit about? What are the consequences of Microsoft being declared a monopoly? What is the current bundling controversy? What is the Applications Barrier to Entry? What is WINE? What is the Embrace and Extend?

Intel Who competes with Intel? What sort of anti-competitive behavior has Intel been charged with? What is discriminatory pricing? What is the current state of this action? What is different now compared to the original Microsoft trial?

Google Where is Google in trouble? Why? What is the basic argument offered against Google? Is Microsoft pressing to have google declared a monopoly? Does google seem to be engaging in abusive behavior?

Richard Stallman Patron Saint of Computing or Evil Marxist?

Copyleft (the GPL) What is the basic idea behind Copyleft? * How is this different from the public domain? Did Stallman require changes to copyright law to create copyleft? Why does the FSF copyleft its code? * What is the LGPL? * Why doesn't the FSF allow you to modify the GPL? * What is the FDL?

Is the GPL Marxist? Some Microsoft quotes: "giving software away is, at minimum, a bad business decision, and, at worst, theft of intellectual property." "open-source is an intellectual property destroyer. I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business." "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches"

Open Source Time Dream Team …

Open Source Economics How is open source business different from ordinary business? How much did IBM spend on open source in 2001? What is Apache? What percentage of the market does it currently have? What has happened in the field of embedded systems?

The Old Days How was much system software treated in the 60s and 70s? What is the difference between source code and object code? What originally made the programming community angry? How does the GPL propagate itself? How does the BSD license differ from the GPL? What is the original big open source project?

Open Source Programmers What motivations drive open source programmers? What is an advantage of putting effort into an open source project instead of a proprietary one? How has Microsoft used open source principles to get others to work on their projects? What is an “alumni effect”?

Open Source What does the author believe at open source project needs to succeed? What did the study of the Apache show as a benefit to the participants? Do surveys provide good information about the people working on open source projects? What are some reasons that people say that have in working on a open source project?

Open Source What company exemplifies a “symbiotic” relation with open source software? What is the “free rider” problem? What motivated IBM to give away “Cloudsape”? When should a company convert its product to “Open Source”? What famous example of this is cited?

Open Source Legal Issues What’s the difference between a “permissive” and “restrictive” license? Why might a company favor one or the other? What happened with the license chosen by Netscape? Do less restrictive licenses attract more programmers?

Open Source Suitability Do bugs appear to be fixed faster in open source projects? What other argument for open source is presented? What is the “reduced collusion” argument? Do open source programs appear to be more secure? When should governments mandate open source / standards? What is the basic economic argument against open source?