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Published byGervase Watts Modified over 9 years ago
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Free Software The next generation of software development OR A new level of consumer freedom?
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What is “free software”? Richard Stallman, MIT 1983 Political Philosophy -‘Free speech’, not ‘free beer’ Opposite of proprietary software GNU
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What is GNU? GNU’s not Unix….. Copyleft vs. copyright GNU Emacs, GNU HURD GPL/GLPL Free Software Foundation (1985) GNU/Linux
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Free Software vs. Open Source Political Philosophy Ethical Rights Allows unconditional ‘sharing’ and collaboration Only GNU/FSF meet standards Development Technique Better Software Allows software to ‘evolve’ Sun, Apple, Netscape all on board.
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Free software in the market Linux and freeBSD Apple, Sun, Netscape Microsoft - Halloween Documents (1998) LibraNet petition & UDI- hardware vendors Id software - quakelives.com
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Cases to watch Sun vs. Microsoft (servers) GNU/Linux vs. Microsoft (desktop)
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OS/FS vs. Proprietary SoftEvolution - best survive Debugging is parallelizable $$ from tech support and customizations Fast revisions and bug fixes Protect trade secrets ‘Professional’ coders produce best quality Need enforced standards Company is liable
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Ethical Issues UCITA - should software have a license? Software liability Source code requirements Copyright in the digital domain
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Is the copyright applicable to the digital age? "The sole interest of the United States and the primary object in conferring the [copyright] monopoly lie in the general benefits derived by the public from the labors of authors.” Supreme Court Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal
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Sources www.gnu.org www.opensource.org www.freebsd.org www.unix-vs-nt.org www.libranet.com/petition.html
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