foss ( free open source software)...foss ( free open source software) 28-11-2012 centre for...

28-11-2012

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Hyderabad

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FOSS

( Free Open Source Software)

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Overview

Introduction & History of FOSS

Why FOSS

FOSS Philosophy

FOSS Development Methods

Benifits of FOSS

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Introduction to FOSS What is Free/Open Source Software ?

“Briefly, OSS/FS programs are programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program (without having to pay royalties to previous developers).”

By David Wheeler

Computer Software where the source code of the software made available to all users, for the inspection and possible modification.

Freedom to run , copy , distribute, study, change and improve the software.

• Worldwide popular movements

• Many advantages

• Source Code open with the software

• Normally no cost and full freedom

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History of FOSS

The free/open source software movement began in the “ hacker” culture of U.S computer science laboratories ( Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT) in the 1960's and 1970's Momentum with Linux , Linus Torvalds More and more companies and governments endorsing and supporting the movement. Large development/evangelistic community

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Why FOSS

“Open-source software has been called many things : a movement, a fad, a virus, a communist conspiracy, even the heart and soul of the Internet.

But one point is often overlooked: Open-source

software is also a highly effective vehicle for the transfer of wealth from the industrialized world to developing countries. “

By Andrew Leonard 1. No cost 2. Usage normally as on its basis, source not included

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Why FOSS Cont..

Affordability

High cost of computing: hardware and software

Increasing the outreach difficult

Large scale piracy rampant in many places.

FOSS reports low Total Cost of Ownership

Accessibility

Computer usage requires English familiarity

A tiny fraction of India meets this requirement

Digital Divide

Software Localization

Adapt software to local language, culture, etc

Need access to source code

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Why FOSS Cont .Other Factores

More choice to users

Ability to leverage local expertise for adaptation and development

Jump start to local Industry lower entry barrier

No vendor Locking

Large distributed community to maintain/develop

Can do local changes, if resources available

Increased reliability

Due to community development

Due to transparent sources.

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Degree of Freedom

0 – To run the program, for any purpose

1 – To study the code and adopt to individual need

2 – To redistibute the copies

3 – To redistribute my improved versions

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FOSS Philosophy

There are two major philosophies in the

FOSS world.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Philosophy

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) Philosophy

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FSF Philosophy

The freedom to run a program, for any

purpose

The freedom to study how a program

works and adapt it to a person's need.

Access to the source code is a

precondition for this

The freedom to redistribute copies so that

you can help your neighbour

The freedom to improve a program and

release your improvements to the public,

so that the whole community benefits.

Access to the source code is a

precondition for this

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OSI Philosophy The basic Idea behind Open Source is very simple

The programmers can

– Read the source code

– Redistribute the source code , and

– Modify the source code for a pieces of software.

The People can

– Improve it

– Adapt it

– Fix bugs

The all will lead speed up

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Comparision between FS & OS Sr No Features Free Software (FS) Open Source (OS)

01 Philosophical Intelectual freedom Practical freedom

02

General It based on the ethics of software freedom

It is based on the pragmatism

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Definitions The term free software was coined to mean software that came with freedowms that you otherwise would not have had

The open source definition, notably, presents an open-source philosophy, and further defines a boundary on the usage, modification and redistribution

04 Word coined by Richard Stallman Eric Raymond

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Is FOSS Free ? 1. Free means “ free of Charge”- is certain degree is true. 2. No true FOSS application charges a licencing fee for usage. 3. On a licensing cost basis, FOSS applications are almost

always cheaper than proprietary software 4. Licencing cost are not the only costs of a software package or

infrastructure. It is also necessary to consider personal costs, hardware requirements, opportunity costs and training costs.

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Importance of FOSS

Freedom to learn, redistribute and enhance

Prevents single vendor and technology locking

Promotion and preservation of open standards

Peer review and feedback will lead to :

More robust and reliable software

Better security and faster bug fixes

Promotes environment for positive competition, self learning, exploring and cooperation

Benefits developing countries....

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FOSS Development Methods

Foss development methods are unique and become possible only with the advent of the Internet and the communication boom caused by it.

The Cathedral and bazaar analogies are

used to contrast the FOSS development model with traditional software development methods

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Traiditional Method

Traditional Method shows that a Vice President of Development at the top, with several Directors of Engineering reporting to the VP.

Below the Directors are Engineering Managers, and finally the engineers who write the code.

Many Organizations use this model, and everyone agrees it is sometimes grossly inefficient.

Vice President

Director

Manager Manager

Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer

Director Director

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Cathedral Method

The diagrams explains Cathedral or open source ,

uses a single designer/ architect at the top, with

many engineers reporting directly to the architect.

Designer /

Architect

Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer

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Bazaar Method

Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer

Engineer

Engineer Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

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Bazaar Method Diagram

In this method all are connected peer-to-peer network of many engineers, all reporting to and

coordinating with each other, without central control

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Bazaar method Advantages

1. Reduced Duplication of effort 2. Building upon the work of others 3. Better quality control 4. Reduced Maintenance costs

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Benifits of using FOSS The private/public organizations are adopting FOSS

aggressively besides the low cost and those are: 1. Security 2. Reliability / Stability 3. Open standards and vendor independence 4. Reduced reliance on imports 5. Developing local software capacity 6. Piracy, IPR, and WTO 7. Localization

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Security

Reasons for FOSS's better security

1. Availability od Source code. 2. Security focus, instead of user-friendliness 3. Roots

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Open standards and Vendor Independence

Open standards give users, whether individuals or governments,flexibility and the freedom to change between different software packages, platforms and vendors.

Advantage of FOSS is that they almost use open standards due the these two

reasons:

1. Availability of the source code. 2. Active Standards compliance.

Proprietary, secret standards lock users into using software only from

one vendor and leave them at the mercy of the vendor at a later stage, when all their data is in the vendor's proprietary format and the costs of converting them to an open standard is prohibitive

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Developing local Software Capacity

There are three reasons been listed by the International Institute of Infonomics for positive correlation between the growth of a FOSS Developer base and the innovative capacities(software) of an economy.

1. Low barriers to entry 2. FOSS as an excellent training System. 3. FOSS as a source of standards.

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Localization Statement from Localisation Industry Standards Associationon

Localization:

“ Localization involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale ( country/region

and language) where it will be used and sold “ Localization is one of the areas where FOSS dominates because of its open nature. Users

are able to modify FOSS to suit the unique requirements of a particular cultural region, regardless of economic size.

All that is necessary is the technical capability within a small number of individuals to

creates a minimally localized version of any FOSS. While the construction of a completely localized software platform is no small feat, it is at

least possible.

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Open Source Software

Operating System : GNU/Linux , FreeBSD

Office Suite : Open office, Star Office, Easy Office

Email: Evolution, Thunderbird

Browser : Firefox, Conqueror, Galeon

Database : MySQL, PostgreSQL,DB2

Ecommerce : Library management, Multimedia, content Development, etc

Software available for a wide range of requirements.

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Open Source Definition Open source doesn't just mean acces to the

source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:

1.Free Redistribution

2. Source Code

3. Derived Works

4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code

5. No, Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

7. Distribute of License

8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

9. License Must Not Restrict Other software

10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral

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Linux Linux 'Commercial' Versions available from many

vendors :

Redhat, suse, Mandrake, Gentoo, Knoppix, etc.

A wide range of Softwares and Tools Available

The Comparable GUI with Windows available

GNOME, KDE, etc

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Open standards

Standards which are not owned by a single Agencies.

Which applies to

• Documents

• Media files ( Audio, Video, Images, etc..)

• Databases

• Web Content , etc...

FOSS Development by nature, follows open standard mostly

• Adopt Open standard whereever possible

• Reduce dependencies on single vendors

• Data lock-in is expensive

• ODF : Open Standard for Documents, Spreadsheets. etc.

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Linux Distributions BOSS

Suse

Mandriva

Knoppix

Debian

Ubuntu

Redhat/Fedora

...Etc...

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Desktops KDE (*)

Gnome(*)

Xfce

ICEWm

Fluxbase

Enlightenment

Ratpoison

EvilWm

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Referrences

Wikipedias *

http://www.opensource.org/osd.html

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FOSS_A_General_Introduction/

http://www.beautifulsoftware.com/phpdocs/manage_themselves.php







