Gerard Braad
gerard@unitedstack.com
What does 'openness' mean?
Free Software Movement
Informal software sharing
Richard Stallman publishes the GNU Manifesto
explanation and definition of the goals of the GNU Project
give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and computing devices, by collaboratively developing and providing software that is based on the freedoms
users are free to run the software, share it (copy, distribute), study it and modify it.
First version of the GNU General Public License
gives permission to modify the work, as well as to copy and redistribute the work or any derivative version
run the program as you wish, for any purpose
study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish
Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
distribute copies of your modified versions to others
By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.
Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Linux is announced as a hobby project
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.frustrated by the licensing and design of MINIX
Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.Linux relicensed under the GPL
The original license prohibited commercial redistribution.
Naming controversy
triggered adoption by enterprise market; they could get support in the form of services.
Eric S Raymond, Red Hat, et al introduce a new term
clearly explains the intention of freedom to study
cultural issues between use of the terms 'free' and 'open'. Source code is 'freely' available to see.
is an ideology / way of doing
promotes collaboration/sharing of ideas
the licensing promotes the re-use of material
is not only about software
web service solution stack
Became popular because it is entirely free and open-source software
variants exist, but the ease of use of the components allowed rapid application development
security and better quality comes from the idea 'given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow'.
quality comes from practices such as 'code review'.
Often mistaken as 'free of cost'.
Charged in the form of services or support.
Even if the source code is available at no charge, there is still a cost involved with maintenance and training of staff.
customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services
the original authors or maintainers of software.
patch 'sent upstream' means offered to the author for inclusion.
Downstream deviations
Note: exceptions can exist
Deviations can lead to issues
Merge fixes to a different version
Can become painful over time (or even impossible and conflicting)
Advantages to 'upstreaming'
Advantages to 'upstreaming'
prevents knowledge asymmetry between project and provider and/or provider and customer.
Large projects enforce documentation and reviewing.
Open Community
NOT Open Core
licensing is often not ideal to allow re-use of the core in other projects
Continue to Cultural aspects