1. Abhijit A.M. [email_address] Free (dom)Software Lokayat Free Knowledge Initiative http://www.lokayat.org.in

2. I bet you know this How many times have you banged your head at this screen? The Windows Blue Screen of Death 3. VISTA ! 4. Have you ever read the license agreement? 5. Its business! 6. Software Piracy is Illegal

Software Piracy

• Certain software are not allowed to be copied

7. You can be put behind the bars for the same

8. Can you own a copy of Windows Vista ?

No!

9. You just license it 10. Once the license expires, you can not use it 11. So what to do?

• Pay Microsoft to renew the license

12. Even when you have already paid once!

13. Software is Costly Well, writing a CD/DVD costs Windows Vista Rs. 7000 Microsoft Office Rs. 25000+ (variable) Adobe Photoshop CS, CS3 Rs. 15000+ Tally.erp9 Rs. 13500 Corel Draw 12 Rs. 20000 + only Rs. 15 14. Did you know?

There is an alternative to Windows OS

15. Which is available FREE of cost 16. Which can be copied without anybody's permission 17. You can see, study and modify the source code of that Operating System It's called Linux Or rather GNU / Linux 18. Welcome to the World of GNU / Linux The World of Free Software 19. Free (!!)?

Free as in Freedom, and not Free as in Free food

We are talking ofUsersbeingFree to usethe software

Well, most of free software is actually available free of cost

• But that's another interesting story!

20. So what's Free Software ?

Software that respects the User's Freedom

Freedom What is it? 0 Run the programfor any purpose 1 Study and Modifythe program 2 Copy the programso you can help your neighbor 3 Improve the program, andrelease your improvementsto the public, so that the whole community benefits 21. Hmmm, Free Software really gives us freedom But that's not enough! There is a deep thought behind the 4 rules of free software 22. The 4 Freedoms Explained

0: Run the Program

• Having control of your own computer

23. Use your bike for anything that you want

1: Study and Modify

• Knowledge is free

• How else you can have control of your computer, and run it for any purpose

• If the software does not run for some purpose, you should be able to make it run

24. Modify your bike to look like a sportbike !

25. The 4 Freedoms Explained

2: Copy for friends

• Who is more important: friend, or software agreement?

26. Breaking the social solidarity

• • Dont you share a bike with your friend?Why make software an exception?

• Law does not mean good always

27. The lesser evil: Do wrong to the one who did wrong

3: Redistribute improvements to all

• Being a party of community, give back

28. Helping each other, community and co-operation

29. Why academic institutes should use Free Software

Schools have a mission

• Teach society to be capable

Teach studentsFreedom and notDependence

30. Moral education

• The spirit of helping other people around them in society

31. Why Colleges should use Free Software

Moral education

• The spirit of helping other people around them in society

This means that the academic institutions must promote free software !

32. Hmmm, so who wrote Linux?

Any guess?

People!

Initiated by Linus Torwalds

Later improved bysoftware developers all over the world

Linux runs using GNU utilities

Linux is Free Software

33. What is GNU?

G NU isN otU nix

• A recursive acronym

Why should I know GNU?

• That's where the Free Software Movement Started

Wanna know more about the history of GNU and Free Software Movement ?

• Let's meet RMS

34. Richard M Stallman

American software freedom activist

The Hero of Free Software Movement

Hacker (programmer), Software developer (wrote emacs, and tons of other software)

Sept 1983: GNU Projectand the free software movement

35. GNU / Linux

Linux on your box runs with

• A Linux Kernel

36. Other GNU utilities(gcc, ld, )

Linux was released under a GPL developed by GNU

Hence it must be called GNU / Linux

37. What is GPL?

GNU General Public License

License: Alegal instrument

• Governs the usage or redistribution of copyright protected software

A software published under GPL is Free

• We can copy, study, modify, redistribute

• All further releases by anyone must be under GPL only

38. Open Source

Quite a popular term

So what's the difference between Open Source & Free Software?

Open Source = Free Software - Talk of 4 freedoms

• Giving away the source, but not talking of the 4 freedoms

• Benefits of having source for commercial interests, ignoring the moral aspects

39. Talk about technical benefits only

40. Open Source And Free Software

Not enemies

Not Vs but And

Free & Open Source Software = FOSS

41. Advantages

Freedom!

Fundamental control and flexibility

Not being dependent on a sole-source company

Better quality

Higher reliability

42. Free Software Success

GNU / Linux: Favorite OS for Servers

- Survey, April 1999 Operating System Market Share Composition GNU / Linux 28.5% GNU / Linux Windows 24.4% All Windows combined (including 95, 98, NT) Sun 17.7% Sun Solaris or SunOS BSD 15.0% BSD Family (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, BSDI, ) IRIX 5.3% SGI IRIX 43. Apache beats all Apache is the highest used Web Server in history 44. Reliability, Failure Rates 45. Proprietary Vs Free Software

What about software that are available on Windows, but not on Linux?

Wrong to compare!

• Making Guns is easier than Houses, but do we want to?

• Proprietary Software is Immoral, why do immoral things

Well, as a matter of fact there are alternatives on Linux for almost everything on Windows

46. How does proprietary software get established ?

Proprietary Software Only for Profit

• Windows, Office, Adobe, Corel, Macintosh, etc.

Supported by License agreements and

• Copyright Laws

47. Patent Laws

Both Copyright & Patent laws talk about Intellectual Property and promoting innovation

48. Intellectual Property

One who gets an idea firstownsthat idea

Right to earn money on the basis of ideas that one gets

49. Can knowledge be an individual property ? Lets discuss... 50. Why knowledge can't have owners Who owns the idea ofWheel ? Who owns the idea ofWriting ? Who owns the idea ofCooking ? Society has developed most of its knowledge through co-operation and sharing There was no individual ownership of knowledge for most of human history 51. Free Knowledge

Any invention is always built on top of socially owned knowledge

adding a drop to the ocean of knowledge

I could see farther because I was standing on the shoulders of Giants - Albert Einstein 52. What is the cost of knowledge ? 53. Patents are privatising and monopolising knowledge

Claim over the whole ocean

54. Patents: Innovation Killers

More innovation if more people have knowledge and can use it

30,000 varities of rice in India before green revolution

55. Now less than a hundred ! Patents: Restrict the knowledge to the corporate labs

Only those with money can use a patent

56. Profit machines for the companies 57. Why some people claim Ownership?

False notions

• Copyright protects Authors natural rights

58. Leads to more production

59. The Law

Actual motive is Profit making

60. Whats wrong with Patents?

Monopoly

• We can not use an invention, until we pay money

Some ideas cant have alternatives

• Molecules for medicines

Very hard for individuals to get a Patent

• Costs lot of money

61. Only big companies can own it

Cost of using a patent is very high

• So most of the people cant use it

Case of Haldi and Neem Patents

62. Patents & Copyright

You register an invention in your name, called Patent

Anybody who uses your idea / product can be charged for it

Patents are in public domain, so anybody can see them

Hence it is said that theyll spread knowledge and the world can use it

Copyright covers a work of Authorship. A Patent covers an Idea

63. Software Patents are even Worse

Well, patents are anyways bad!

Software Patents are like Land Mines

• You never know when you used somebody elses idea

Large programs require many ideas

• Most of the ideas are mundane, trivial, common sense

64. Some company would have already patented them

65. Morally Speaking

Freedom of all the People is more important than Profits of Few

The 4 freedoms of software talk of Ownership of theCommunityand not an individual

66. Let's Fight

Against the Monopolisation of Knowledge

The Patent Laws

The Copyright Laws

67. The World is adopting Free Software

Venezuela:A free software law in January 2006

Republic of Peru:"Free Software in Public Administration bill

Kerala:Landmark decision to switch all school computers in 12,500 high schools from Windows to GNU / Linux

Maharashtra:Judiciary and BSNL

68. Nearly a hundred FSUGs (Free Software Users Group) and LUG (Linux Users Group) in India ! 69. Fall-out of the Free Software Movement

The Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) movement demonstrates how

• Labour can self-organise production

• Even compete with some of the worlds largest firms

• • As proved by the free Operating System GNU / Linux

A different kind of activism that promotes development of technology from below

70. What are you waiting for? Start Your Own FSUG ! 71. Join Us!

To know more about Linux

To become a Free Software Activist

To fight against Copyright and Patent Laws

To work for a world where Knowledge is Free!

We meet every Sunday from 4-7 pm at:

Lokayat, Lenovo Building, Opp Syndicate Bank, Law College Road, Nal Stop, Pune Join the googlegroup:[email_address] 72. Thank You! 73.

Jurassic Park

74. Cisco Case 75. Elephant's Dream 76. Send Information Screenshot 77. References

www.fsf.org

78. www.gnu.org 79. Hacking Capitalism 80. Cathedral and the Bazaar 81. Why OSS/FS? Look at thenumbers ! 82. Richard Stallman: Wikipedia Entry 83. The internet is full of material about FS!