In A Nutshell: The history of Open Source and why it will save the world (or at least libraries)

In the beginning... (1950 or so)

1960s

… but then the shoe drops 1969 through the 70s US. Vs. IBM Antitrust suit

1970s - Software gets locked down

The Birth of Software Piracy?

In comes Mr. Tact...

Feb 3, 1976 – A day which will live...

Ok, yeah sure, but... What does this all have to do with Open Source software???

… So in walked this guy...

... and he believed good things...

But was like, 'wait, this sucks'...

… then what he did was …

GNU Mana..what? The GNU Manifesto Richard Stallman What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix! GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can use it. (1) Several other volunteers are helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed. So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development. We will use TeX as our text formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We will use the free, portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more......

… and in walked these other guys... Andrew Tanenbaum Linus TorvaldsEben Moglen

So how does all this save the world? Free Software is like bread, but better. Lets feed the world. (...roughly what Eben Moglen said)

Creates a standardized world Could open source software save the planet? Steven Chu, the US energy secretary, says it can certainly help, by making it easier for all countries to access tools to design and build more energy- efficient buildings.

Libraries - Preserves Our Information Open Source Software Provides the Ultimate Archiving Software – It can be used and supported... Forever.

Libraries – Open Source is... Virus free, helps prevent data loss / corruption. Secure, prevents data theft / hacking. Free, good for budgets, and fiscal responsibility! Easier to use every day. Low maintenance, gives more for less! Low TCO, up to 90% cheaper than alternatives! (your milage may vary)