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What is Free and Opensource Software?
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Héctor Facundo Arena
Director de LAD, Director de TuxSys, Editor Jefe de la revista Linux Users, |
Probably you have read in newspapers and journals about the Free and Opensource Software boom in this or that country, the boom in universities, schools, airports and at the shop around the corner. But… why? What is free and opensource software? What is interesting in it? Is it a real technological revolution or just a bunch of anarchistic teenagers who shout too loud? In this essay we will try to explain it.
Where we come from
To understand Free and Opensource Software, first, we are going to explain what is “usual”, what "we all know", and what it looks “normal” to many people. We come from a setting where a kind of applications called “owner” reigned. The owner application (or owner software) is characterized by having an owner (a company, a programmer) and then, if we want to use it, we have to buy a permission of use (namely License, though this is not the most appropriate term).
Let's analyze it with the following example: are you using Microsoft Windows as an OS? OK. How did you get it? Did you buy the box in a Wal-Mart? (We are not going to talk about piracy, at least for the time being). Good, if you thought that that Microsoft Windows belonged to you, well, you are wrong. The plastic from the CD or the cardboard of the box might be yours… but the program as such, Microsoft Windows, does not belong to you. It belongs to Microsoft. When you paid for that box, in fact you paid for a permission of use. Microsoft lets you use Microsoft Windows in exchange of a sum of money and of your following certain “rules of the game”. These rules are specified in the product's License and they tell us, among other things, what I can or cannot do with the program. When these "rules" become restrictive, then we say that the owner program is “privative”. What do we mean by restrictive rules? Let's see some examples:
• You can install a copy of this program in one computer only. If you want to install it in more than one computer, you should obtain more licenses (N: permissions of use).
• You cannot make a backup of the CD with this program.
• You cannot use this program in computers that do not have Intel processors.
The list can be very extensive. I invite you to read Microsoft Windows', Office's, Internet Explorer's, MSN's, ICQ's licenses, or that of any other program considered owner. You will see that most of them are also privative.
Then, the users cannot do freely what they want with these programs. If I install a copy of Microsoft Windows in more than one computer without paying for the corresponding license, I would be breaking the law and that is punished with a jail sentence in some cases.
This is owner software and people got used to it; to follow and accept the rules of the game that have been determined by software manufacturing companies that, generally, are too restrictive and offer fewer warranties. Now, the opposite to the owner software is the free and opensource software. Let's see what is it about.
What free and opensource software is?
A free and opensource software has the following characteristics:
• It enables the user to make copies of it and install it a many times as he wants, without requiring the purchase of different licenses or permissions of use.
• It enables the user to access the source code of the program. We can see how the program is made.
• It offers to the user the freedom to modify the source code of the program.
• It offers to the user the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program.
Do you realize how this is? Let's see an example. I make a program that plays MP3 files, and distribute it as Free and Opensource Software. What does it mean? It means that I allow you to copy it and install it in as many computers as you wish. Do you want to know how I made this program? Take the source code and do whatever you want with it. Do you want to modify it? Just do it! And if you make several improvements, just let me know so I include them into my program and everybody else can take advantage of them. Do you want to distribute modified versions? Also do it!! But, please, always state that it is based on the original work by somebody else, that is me.
Absolutely all programs considered as Free and Opensource Software are guided by a license which is called General Public License (or GPL) that was developed by an entity called Free Software Foundation (FSF) which is the main driving force of free and opensource software development and use. To understand better all that has been said here, I invite you to read the license in Spanish: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/LuCaS/Tutoriales/CURSOLINUX/curso_linux/node3.html
Free and Opensource Software Advantages.
When we talk about advantages, we are referring to advantages for the whole world. That is, advantages for developers and users. And to enumerate them, let's start by the latter:
• Users may use the programs for whatever they want. There is no need to ask for permission or sign any paper.
• Users may copy the program in as many computers as they wish.
• Users have a warranty that the program is clean. No one will include backdoors, or viruses, or spywares in a free and opensource software because the source code is visible to everyone. Everybody would notice.
• Users can “adjust” the programs to their needs. If they do not know how to make a program, they can always hire programmers to help them modify the program.
And many more! Let's see the advantages for programmers.
• Programmers can improve their programs thanks to the contribution of other programmers who send their improvements for the program.
• Programmers can form development groups that occasionally are much bigger than the ones in large companies. The amount of people that can be found on the Internet is huge!
• Programmers have direct feedback from users, who are an inexhaustible source of information when it is time to improve the program and correct errors.
• Programmers can include codes from other free projects in their own.
Finally, there is an endless list, but better test it to realize yourself what the benefits are.
Free is not the same as free of charge.
Look out! Many people confuse free with free of charge. A Free and Opensource Software can cost some money. In fact, when buying a distribution of GNU/Linux, the ones that come in boxes, are you not paying for it? Certainly! The fact is, generally, what we are paying for is the packaging service, the printing of the manuals, the technical support, etc. Let's see another example: I ask to a friend to make a copy for me of his Mandrake Linux. My friend says, “yes, I can make a copy but I want you to pay me a hundred dollars because I am a very busy person and in my opinion time is gold”. I have two choices; the first one is paying him the hundred dollars. The second one is asking another friend to make a copy for less money or even free of charge. Whatever the choice, once I have my Mandrake Linux, my father arrives and asks for it. Am I going to charge him? Of course not! Then, I make a copy for him free of charge. I am exercising the use of the freedom that free and opensource software offers me. I am not breaking any law.
The GPL does not talk about money, but about freedom. Freedom in both senses: the one who charges a hundred dollars is exercising his freedom, and the other one who makes copies free of charge, too.
The largest Free and Opensource Software project: GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux is the largest free and opensource software project ever created. It is large in all senses: it includes a thousand applications, written in millions of code lines by millions of programmers. No company ever could develop a software product as big as GNU/Linux.
The most important of all this is that GNU/Linux, being free and opensource software, fulfills the four freedoms: GNU/Linux can be used freely, it can be distributed freely, we can see how it is made and we can distribute modified versions of it. That is why there are so many GNU/Linux distributions. Anyone can make his own version!
A bit of history…
At the beginning of the 80's, a scientist from the AI department of the MIT, called Richard Stallman, resolved to begin the development of a free OS, since at that time, the only choice computer users had was to buy an owner software. The name of this system is GNU, acronym of the letters of the words ‘GNU is not UNIX'. The main idea was for the system to maintain a certain similitude to the well-known UNIX without sharing a single line of the source code. Obviously, this idea was realized in a few years. By the end of the 80's, the system was essentially completed. It has text editors, command interpreters, compilers, debuggers, etc. There was one element missing: the core (kernel). By chance, on the other side of the globe (Finland) Linus B. Torvalds, a student, developed a core compatible with UNIX, without knowing that this core would be part in the most revolutionary OS in the world of informatics. This is the way in which Linux was born, the core of GNU system. Today, in this way, we have a complete system in our hands, the GNU/Linux system.
Now that you know that the complete system is called GNU project and that Linux is just the core of the system, do you think it is fair that everyone calls it just Linux? Unfortunately, that concept is wrong; it is already established with people, though you will always have the opportunity to explain to someone else where the name comes from.
To conclude…
We have reached a point in which software is being ruled by two giants: the owner software (and in some cases, privative) driven mainly by large companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, etc.; and the free and opensource software, driven by the Free Software Foundation and by millions of users around the world. The interesting part in this is that, nowadays, there is an free and opensource alternative for each owner program. Cannot you pay for Windows? Use GNU/Linux. Cannot you pay for Microsoft Office? Use OpenOffice. Cannot you pay for Adobe Photoshop? Use The GIMP. Do you think that Outlook Express is not safe? Use Thunderbird, Evolution or Kmail. The alternatives are endless! In many cases, the free alternatives are more complete than the owners' ones. In the case of GNU/Linux, we are talking about an OS much more reliable, strong and flexible than Microsoft Windows. It is not only my opinion; it is said by thousands of statistics going around out there.
But unfortunately many people are against GNU/Linux and against free and opensource software without really convincing reasons. It is only right; I am not trying to change their minds or say which is better, each one of you should try it and test it. But at least try it. Free and opensource software is a gift made by a whole community of programmers. At least, we have the ethical duty to try it and if we like it, we use it. We must accept all presents.
Free and opensource software is real and it has come to stay. Besides it is a technological phenomenon, a social phenomenon, driven by millions of people who day by day contribute to only one target, which is to make better programs.
- Director de LAD. |
Publicación: Mes 2005
Este documento se publica bajo licencia FDL
(GNU Free Documentation License. Version 1.2, November 2002)
de la Free Software Foundation. El copyright pertenece a los autores.
Para más detalles consulte a: http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/fdl.txt
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