%include "default.mgp" %default 1 bgrad %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page %nodefault %back "blue" %center %size 7 What is Open Source / Free Software ? %center %size 4 by Harald Welte Harald Welte %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Contents The traditional (proprietary) software model The Free / Open Source software model Important Free / Open Source software licenses Difference Free Software / Open Source History of Free / Open Source software Who is behind FOSS? Development Process Thanks %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) The traditional (proprietary) software model traditional software model product-oriented vendor finances development of software business model of software based on secret source code same copy of software object code is sold under a very restrictive license license fees refinance cost of development enforcement of restrictive license guarantees revenue advantages proven business model disadvantage vendor has to develop everything on his own or buy licenses of 3rd party software less flexibility for the customer does the customer trust the 'black box' you are selling? if vendor goes out of business, no bugfixes/updates %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) The free / open source software model Open Source / Free Software model service based individual parties contribute code parts software is distributed for free software source code is distributed under very permissive license service / support / customization refinance development advantages vast amount of available FOSS can be used as foundation for own products source code is available for peer review bug fixes for free, people just send you patches new features impelemented by your users! disadvantage business model has yet to prove scalability %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Difference Free Software / Open Source difference free software / open source free software term 'free software' (free as in freedom, not beer) introduced by Richard Stallman / FSF 1984. focus on political/ethical/philosophical freedom open source term 'open source' software (OSS) introduced by OSI in 1997 focus on technological advantage by means of source review most FOSS licenses match both definitions, OSS less restrictive FOSS is _not_ to be mistaken as freeware / shareware! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Important FOSS licenses important free / open source license BSD (Berkeley Systems Derivate) style license permits any use of the sourcecode as long as copyright notice remains GPL (GNU General Public License) source for resulting binary has to be provided ensures that derivates of free software are still free LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License) permits linking with non-gpl code (mainly used for libraries) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) History of Free / Open Source Software history of free / open source software initially software always for free in source (e.g. IBM S/360) as hardware gets less expensive, companies start to license software for money some people (Stallman, et. al.) didn't want to give up the freedom they're used to. 1983: GNU project is founded, goal: Implementation of a free UNIX-like operating system 1984: Free Software Foundation is established as non-for-profit legal entity behind the GNU project 1991: Linus Torvalds releases the first version of the Linux Kernel under the GNU GPL license. Together with the other parts from the GNU project and others, a 100% free operating system is available 1994-1999: FOSS is increasingly recognized as reliable, stable alternative to proprietary software, esp. in the server + networking market 2000-2003: FOSS is increasingly considered as an alternative on the desktop (see recent decision by Munich city administration, respective laws in latin america, ...) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Who is behind FOSS? individuals computer enthusiasts motivated by fight: david <-> goliath ability to show how poorly implemented most proprietary software is ability to gain more experience / better reputation experienced end-users independent consultants looking for a solution to a particular problem and already have 95% by using existing FOSS organizations commercial entities who recognize the value of FOSS contributions to existing projects start of new projects contracting consultants and FOSS companies for implementation of missing features mixed FOSS / proprietary companies (like Astaro) use FOSS as foundation for their proprietary solutions have a vital need for a reliable and up-to-date foundation, thus contribute back to and/or fund FOSS academic institutions (e.g. exim, cyrus) are traditionally involved in the exchange of research results. Why treat software differently? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Development Process development process, communication everybody who agrees to the license can contribute code project is usually started by a single developer or a small group different actors in development process maintainer: official person to maintain the code, responsible core team: small group of leaders behind the project developers: people who write code on a regular basis contibutors: people who contribute a single feature or a bug fix from time to time users: people who use the software, often organized on mailinglists, newsgroups, user groups, .. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Development Process main communication medium are mailinglists every developer can be contacted directly via email leaders/managers are people with the best technical skills, unlike the 'commercial world' where you need certain diploma, connections, ... communication is random. no manager <-> manager talk about technical stuff they don't understand %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) Thanks in the name of the netfilter/iptables project, thanks to Astaro for funding particular tasks on my schedule equipment (dual Opteron below my desk) my travel expenses to many FOSS conferences the netfilter developer workshop in August 2003 (Budapest, HU)