understanding foss - free & open source software
DESCRIPTION
This presentation is targeted at absolute amateurs who have never even heard of the term Open Source before. It educates them about what is Open Source Software, what are the various licenses that govern them, real like organisations who have taken up FOSS and also the various business models used to earn money out of Open Source software.TRANSCRIPT
Understanding FOSSUnderstanding FOSSFree & Open Source SoftwareFree & Open Source Software
What is FOSS?
Free Software
Free - as in ‘freedom’, not ‘free beer’
Freedom to run the program, for any purpose
Freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a pre-condition for this purpose
Freedom to re-distribute copies so you can help your neighbor
Freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits
Three pillars of foss
Open Source Software
GCC, Linux Kernel
Python, Java, PHP
Drupal, Wordpress
Firefox, VLC
Open Standards
WWW
PCI
HTML & XHTML
Ogg & Theora
ODF
Open Content
Wikipedia
Father of Free Software Foundation
Richard Matthew Stallmanpopularly known as RMS
He launched the GNU project in 1983.
That marked the initiation of the Free Software movement.
Popular FOSS
Online Encyclopedia Wikipedia
Network Protocol Analyzer WireShark
IM Client Pidgin
Text Editor Notepad Plus
Media Player VLC, mPlayer
IDE Netbeans, Eclipse
P2P Client BitTorrent
Mobile OS Android
Web browser Firefox
Word Processing LibreOffice, Open Office
Vector Drawing Tool Draw
Photoshop Alternative GIMP
Programming Languages Python, Ruby, PHP
PlatformsJBoss, TomCat, Jetty,
RoR, Django
Full blown compilers GCC
Project Management Redmine
Content ManagementWordpress, Drupal, MediaWiki, TWiki
Advantages of FOSS
No use restrictions
Free to modify or change the software without paying fees or getting explicit permission
Can be customized to meet job specification as exactly as possible
Stability and security issues can be addressed and resolved in a direct manner by the user or all users using a community approach
Very often free and open-source software if also free of cost, leaving maximum financial leverage to be put into the tailoring of the entire hard- and software solution
Low rate or complete absence of malware
Respect for the user's privacy
Famous FOSS Implementations
Business Model of FOSSBusiness Model of FOSS
Dual Licensing
Applications
for free distribution & free use
for proprietary use
Copyright and control of the core product development is held in one hand, the original developer
Works best when you’re a market leader
Clients adopt when they like FOSS and intend to use it for commercial use
Dual Licensing
Real Life Case: MySQL Product SQL Database
Free License GPL
Users Approx. 4 mill (2003)
Customers Around 0.5% users
Main IncomeLicense (>50%),
services
Development In-house
Marketing Direct
Technology Standardized (SQL)
“Our software is 100% GPL, and if yours too is 100% GPL (or OSI
compliant), then you never have to pay us for the licenses. In all other instances, you are better served by our commercial license.” (MySQL,
2003)
Distribution & Service Model
Sell support/customization and other professional services
Training
Consulting
Custom Development
Post Sales Support
Strategy requires a large base of clients that want to use the product
Controlled by value driven pricing and competition
Distribution & Service Model
Provide the product on CD instead of an online download
One survey of 113,794 Linux users indicated that 37% of respondents preferred to obtain Linux on a CD/DVD
Providing support services to enterprise customers - Enterprises are willing to pay for accountability
Real Life Case: Red Hat Linux
Distribution & Service Model
Support for installation, answering technical questions, and training employees to use the product
Upgrade Services - Enterprises can now enter into long term agreements with distributors to ensure that they get the latest upgrade
Provide on-site assistance
Real Life Case: Red Hat Linux
The Ecosystem Strategy
Company creates a network of partners or preferred independent software vendors (ISVs)
Software franchising
brand licensing
support sellers
Red Hat and Oracle are their major partners
Dual Product Model
Penetrate the market by releasing an open source product and sell a different product.
For example: Eclipse and its paid proprietary plugins
Web Based Advertising Model
Software generate revenue through advertisements.
For e.g. Firefox has a Google search bar built into the web browser.
Mozilla Foundation raked in a whopping $257 million in revenues in 2012 and 80% of it is from Google.
Hybrid Model
Change the availability of the source code
Right to view (i.e., to see the code in the first place and possess a copy of it)
Right to use (i.e., to compile the source into an executable form and run the resulting application)
Right to modify (i.e., to make changes to the source code)
Right to redistribute (i.e., to give the source code to the third party, potentially in either modified or unmodified form)
Hybrid Model
Change the treatment of different users
License with different terms for Commercial & Non-commercial users
Change the treatment of different types of uses
Source license could allow personal use or internal use within an organization at low cost, or no cost
Prohibit or require higher license fees for use of the software to provide a service to other users
Software LicensesSoftware LicensesWhy is it important to understand the licenses?
CopyLeft is a general method for making a program (or other work) free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free as well
Copyleft says that anyone who redistributes the software, with or without changes, must pass along the freedom to further copy and change it. Copyleft guarantees that every user has freedom.
The code and the freedoms become legally inseparable
UNDERSTANDING COPYLEFT
UNDERSTANDING COPYLEFT
Proprietary software developers use copyright to take away the users' freedom; we use copyright to guarantee their freedom. That's why we reverse the name, changing “copyright” into
“copyleft.”
Strong & Weak Copyleft
-- Not all derived works inherit the copyleft license
-- Generally used for the creation of software libraries.
-- Free software licenses that use "weak" copyleft include the GNU Lesser General Public License and the Mozilla Public License.
The most well known free software license that uses strong copyleft is the GNU General Public License.
Copyright V/s Copyleft
Copyrights exist in order to protect authors of documentation or software from unauthorized copying or selling of their work. A copyright infers that only with the author's permission may such activities take place.
A Copyleft, on the other hand, provides a method for software or documentation to be modified, and distributed back to the community, provided it remains Libre.
How is FOSS Good for Business?
Security
Quality
Customizability
Freedom
Flexibility
Cost
Try before you buy
Thank You!Thank You!