open source

24th March 2009 1

John, Solomon Softwarewwww.solomondomain.com

Open Source Open Minds

Open Source Open Minds 24th March 2009 2

Agenda

• Free/Open Source Software Introduction• Proprietary Software Vs Free/Open Source Software• Free/Open Source Software Technologies • Open Source for Career


Don’t bother me with new ideas. I’ve got a battle to fight.

24th March 2009 4

Introduction to Free/Open Source Software


History

• In the beginning, no protection for computer software. - It was de facto open source

• No copyright until 1980• No patenting until mid to late 1990s• Could be kept a trade secret, but not effective


Free Software Definition • Freedom to run the program in any place, for

any purpose and for ever.• Freedom to study how it works and to adapt it

to our needs. This requires access to the source code.

• Freedom to redistribute copies, so that we can help our friends and neighbours.

• Freedom to improve the program and to release improvements to the public. This also requires the source code.

Free Software is a movement for Software Freedom


Definition of Open Source

• Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with criteria.

1. Free Redistribution2. Source Code3. Derived Works4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor7. Distribution of License8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral


Open Standards

• An open standard is a published standard that is possessed by no one and used by all.

• Example: HTML is an open standard; it is managed by the World Wide Web Consortium But they do not own it. Anyone can inspect, criticize, or suggest enhancements.


More Open Standards

• TCP/IP - Transmission standard • ASCII - Standard for encoding • HTTP, HTML, URL, XHTML - Web standards• PNG, GIF, JPEG - Standards for image files• POP, SMTP - Email standards• PDF - Document transfer standard


A Proprietary Standard,

• Typically owned by a corporation. • Its internals cannot be inspected. • Its use is licensed by its owners. • It can be changed at will. • Example: Google PageRank


Open Content

• Freedom to use, study, modify and share scientific and creative works


Free/Open Source Software (FOSS).

• Free Software Foundation– Founded by Richard Stallman. – The Free Software movement focuses on

moral and ethical issues relating to the freedom of users to use, study, modify and redistribute software.

• Free Software Foundation, Open Source Initiative, – founded by Bruce..– Open Source advocates take a more corporate

approach, focusing on the advantages of the Open Source Software development method.

• FOSS (Free/Open Source Software)– For most purposes, Free Software and Open

Source Software can be considered to be the same and we refer to it as Free/Open Source Software (FOSS).

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Proprietary Software Vs Free Software


What is not Free/Open Source Software

• Freeware (no source code)• Shareware (no source code)• Public Domain• For non-commercial use only• Community Codes


Proprietary software

• In proprietary software, you buy a license (the right) to use some binary code. You do not buy ownership.

• Proprietary software is software that is not free or semi-free. Its use, redistribution or modification is prohibited, or requires you to ask for permission, or is restricted so much that you effectively can't do it freely.


India Digital Scenario 2009

Personal computers 2.8 crores

Broadband subscribers 0.54 crores

Internet users 5.2 crores

Mobile subscribers 40 crores


Indian Software Expenditure

Assumed Proprietary Software License Requirement with PC Population growth.

10 crores

Proprietary OS Software 10 crore x Rs. 5,000-= Rs. 50,000 Cr.

Proprietary Office Suite 10 crore x Rs. 20,000= Rs. 200,000 Cr.


Compare

10 Crores PC Operating System and Office Software Cost

Chandrayan-1 Project cost

Rs. 250,000 Crores. Rs. 386 crores.

India’s Primary Deficit in

2008-2009 Budget Rs. 57,520 Cr.


Price We Pay for Not Using Free and Open Source Software

• No Freedom to Modify, Study, Distribute• Bugs• Update• No Localization• No study• Privacy and Security Risk• Compromising Legal Risk


FOSS Benefits• Zero acquisition cost.• Freedom• Not restricted to modify, learn, distribute.• No Lock-in means your investment is safe.• Peer review. Bugs, security holes found by others.• Programmers write better code/docs. Knowing it'll be scrutinized. • Saves Foreign Currency Exchange

24th March 2009 22

FOSS Technologies


Operating Systems• O/S Linux• Used in numerous domains, from embedded

systems to super computers, installation with popular LAMP application pack.


Web Browser: Firefox

• Developed and Maintained under Mozilla Foundation. Available for a wide variety of OS.

• Most popular Web browser.


Email Client: ThunderBird

• Developed and maintained under Mozilla Foundation.

• Available for a wide Variety of Operating Systems.


Office Suite: OpenOffice

• Originally derived from StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999.


Programming Language: Java

• Developed by Sun Microsystems and open sourced in November 2007 under GNU GPL.

• Used in a wide variety of computing platforms spanning from embedded devices to enterprise servers and supercomputers.


Web Server

• Apache HTTP Server • Developed and maintained under Apache

Software Foundation. Available for a wide Variety of OS

• Most popular HTTP Server on WWW• The majority of all web servers using

Apache are Linux web servers.• Apache is characterized as free software

and open source software.


RDBMS: MySQL

• RDBMS: MySQL• Owned and sponsored by the Swedish

company MySQL AB, now subsidary of Sun microsystems.

• Has more than 11 million installations. Widely used to support websites.


Web Development: PHP

• PHP is a scripting language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages.

• Hypertext Preprocessor• PHP is free software released under the

PHP License, however it is incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL)

• PHP is commonly used as the P in this bundle alongside Linux, Apache and MySQL, although the P may also refer to Python or Perl.


CMS: Joomla

• Joomla! is a free open source content management system for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets

• It is written in the PHP programming language and uses the MySQL database.

• Widely used in the World Wide Web.

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Career in Open Source


Job Opportunities in Free and Open Source Software

• With economic slowdown enterprises have started optimizing their IT budgets.

• Free and Open Source software is being adopted.

• They need employees having familiarity with Open Source technologies.


Major Players in Free/Open Source Software• Corporate

– IBM– HP– SUN– RedHat

• Non Profit Organisation– Apache Software Foundation– Mozilla Foundation

• Individuals– Linus Torvalds


Learn, Use and Teach Open Source

• Learn more about Free/Open Source Software and its license types.

• Get trained in one or more of the Open Source technologies.

• Install Open Source Software and start experiments.

• Contribute for an Open Source Project and make instant proof of your knowledge.

• Train others in Free/Open Source Software• Advocate Open Source.


Thank You

We all are Learners,

Doers & Teachers