1. Open Source Software in Academia
Patrick McSweeney
Web and Internet Science

2. What is open source software?
You get the source code with it
That's it strictly.
Often also “free software” licenses
What is open source software?

3. How does it work?
The copyright holder chooses the license
Users are legally obliged to comply
Not just true in software

4. What licenses are there?
Copy left licenses
Permissive licenses
Shared source licenses

5. Example: GNU GPL
Copyleft
Other's must share changes
Linking code must also be GPL
Others can not re-licence

6. Example: MIT License
Permissive
Anyone can use and re-licence
Original notice must be retained
Explicit disclaimer

7. Example: Microsoft ESLP
Shared Source
Very long
Very restrictive
Can not redistribute or re-licence

8. People to keep an eye out for
Free Software Foundation
Open Source Initiative
Apache Foundation
Microsoft

9. Now the interesting stuff
Open source is complimentary to what we do
Encourages collaborative working and peer review

10. Lots of good publicity You write much better code
Benefits to you
Lots of good publicity
You write much better code

11. Benefits to your project
A problem shared...
Bug tracking
Suggested improvements
Code written for free
Your own evangelists

12. Benefits to academia
Code which has been used is more easily built on
Work with tangible outputs gives you better chance of citation

14. Things to talk about
Your language and tool chain?
What else can you licence?
What might the benefits be?
What can you build on?

15. Extra Reading
Free as in Freedom – S. Williams
Just for fun – Linus Torvolds
The Cathedral and Bazaar – E. Raymond
Free – C. Anderson