Open-source software movement

Not to be confused with Free software movement, a related movement.
For related movements beyond software, see Open-source model.

The open-source software movement is a broad-reaching movement of individuals who support the use of open-source licenses for some or all software. The open-source movement was started to spread the concept/idea of open-source software. Programmers who support the open-source movement philosophy contribute to the open-source community by voluntarily writing and exchanging programming code for software development.[1] The term "open source" requires that no one can discriminate against a group in not sharing the edited code or hinder others from editing their already-edited work. This approach to software development allows anyone to obtain and modify open-source code. These modifications are distributed back to the developers within the open-source community of people who are working with the software. In this way, the identities of all individuals participating in code modification are disclosed and the transformation of the code is documented over time.[2] This method makes it difficult to establish ownership of a particular bit of code but is in keeping with the open-source movement philosophy. These goals promote the production of "high quality programs" as well as "working cooperatively with other similarly minded people" to improve open-source technologies.[1]

Brief history

The label “open source” was created and adopted by a group of people in the free software movement at a strategy session[3] held at Palo Alto, California, in reaction to Netscape's January 1998 announcement of a source code release for Navigator. One of the reasoning behind using the term was that "the [advantage] of using the term open source [is] that the business world usually tries to keep free technologies from being installed." [4] Those people who adopted the term used the opportunity before the release of Navigator's source code to free themselves of the ideological and confrontational connotations of the term "free software". Later in February 1998, Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond founded an organization called Open Source Initiative (OSI) “as an educational, advocacy, and stewardship organization at a cusp moment in the history of that culture.”[5]

Evolution

In the beginning, a difference between hardware and software did not exist. The user and programmer of a computer were one and the same. When the first commercial electronic computer was introduced by IBM in 1952, the machine was hard to maintain and expensive. Putting the price of the machine aside, it was the software that caused the problem when owning one of these computers. Then in 1952, a collaboration of all the owners of the computer got together and created a set of tools. The collaboration of people were in a group called PACT (The Project for the Advancement of Coding techniques). After passing this hurdle, in 1956, the Eisenhower administration decided to put restrictions on the types of sales AT&T could make. This did not stop the inventors from developing new ideas of how to bring the computer to the mass population. The next step was making the computer more affordable which slowly developed through different companies. Then they had to develop software that would host multiple users. MIT computation center developed one of the first systems, CTSS (Compatible Time-Sharing System). This laid the foundation for many more systems, and what we now call the Open Source Movement.[6]

The Open Source Movement is branched from the free software movement which began in the late 80s with the launching of the GNU project by Richard Stallman.[7] Stallman is regarded within the open source community as sharing a key role in the conceptualization of freely shared source code for software development.[2] The term “free software” in the free software movement is meant to imply freedom of software exchange and modification. The term does not refer to any monetary freedom.[2] Both the free software movement and the open source movement share this view of free exchange of programming code, and this is often why both of the movements are sometimes referenced in literature as part of the FOSS or “Free and Open Software” or FLOSS “Free/Libre Open Source” communities.

These movements share fundamental differences in the view on open software. The main, factionalizing difference between the groups is the relationship between open source and proprietary software. Often makers of proprietary software, such as Microsoft, may make efforts to support open source software to remain competitive.[8] Members of the open source community are willing to coexist with the makers of proprietary software[2] and feel that the issue of whether software is open source is a matter of practicality.[9]

In contrast, members of the free software community maintain the vision that all software is a part of freedom of speech[2] and that proprietary software is unethical and unjust.[2] The free software movement openly champions this belief through talks that denounce proprietary software. As a whole the community refuses to support proprietary software. It also is suggested there are external motivations exist for these developers. One motivation is when a programmer fixes a bug or makes a program it benefits others in an open source environment. Another motivation is that a programmer can work on multiple projects that they find interesting and enjoyable. Programming in the open source world can also lead to commercial job offers or entrance into the venture capital community. These are just a few reasons why open source programmers continue to create and advance software.[10]

While cognizant of the fact that both it and the open source movement share similarities in practical recommendations regarding open source, the free software movement fervently continues to distinguish themselves from the open source movement entirely.[11] The free software movement maintains that it has fundamentally different attitudes towards the relationship between open source and proprietary software. The free software community does not view the open source community as their target grievance, however. Their target grievance is proprietary software itself.[2]

The Open Source Movement has faced a number of legal challenges. Companies that manage open source products have some difficulty securing their trademarks. For example, the scope of “implied license” conjecture remains unclear and can compromise an enterprise’s ability to patent productions made with open source software. Another example is the case of companies offering add-ons for purchase; licensees who make additions to the open source code that are similar to those for purchase may have immunity from patent suits.

In the court case "Jacobsen v. Katzer", the plaintiff sued the defendant for failing to put the required attribution notices in his modified version of the software, thereby violating license. The defendant claimed Artistic License in not adhering to the conditions of the software’s use, but the wording of the attribution notice decided that this was not the case. "Jacobsen v Katzer" established open source software’s equality to proprietary software in the eyes of the law.

In a court case accusing Microsoft of being a monopoly, Linux and open source software was introduced in court to prove that Microsoft had valid competitors and was grouped in with Apple.

There are resources available for those involved open source projects in need of legal advice. The Software Freedom Law Center features a primer on open source legal issues. International Free and Open Source Software Law Review offers peer-reviewed information for lawyers on free software issues.

Formalization

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) was instrumental in the formalization of the Open Source Movement. The OSI was founded by Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens in February 1998 with the purpose of providing general education and advocacy of the open source label through the creation of the Open Source Definition that was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines. The OSI has become one of the main supporters and advocators of the open source movement.[5]

In February 1998 the open source movement was adopted, formalized, and spearheaded by the Open Source Initiative (OSI), an organization formed to market software “as something more amenable to commercial business use”[2] The OSI owns the trademark “Open Source”[1] The main tool they adopted for this was The Open Source Definition.[12]

The “open source” label was conceived at a strategy session that was held on February 3, 1998 in Palo Alto, California and on April 8 of the same year, the attendees of Tim O’Reilly’s Free Software Summit voted to promote the use of the term “open source”.[5]

Overall, the software developments that have come out of the open source movement have not been unique to the computer science field, but they have been successful in developing alternatives to propriety software. Members of the open source community improve upon code and write programs that can rival much of the propriety software that is already available.[2]

The rhetorical discourse used in open source movements is now being broadened to include a larger group of non-expert users as well as advocacy organizations. Several organized groups such as the Creative Commons and global development agencies have also adopted the open source concepts according to their own aims and for their own purposes.[13]

The factors affecting the Open Source Movement’s legal formalization are primarily based on recent political discussion over copyright, appropriation, and intellectual property.[14]

Strengths

The Open Source Movement has allowed smaller businesses to participate in the global economy. Before smaller businesses did not have access to the software needed to participate or compete in the global market. It was the larger corporations, the producers of the networks and software who had the power. “That is, individuals who have access to the software needed to create, organize, or distribute content can plug into and participate in the global community”.[19] The creation of the Open Source Movement has created “a degree of global computing access that might have been unthinkable in a world where proprietary was the only option.” [19] Individuals or organizations with access to an open source had the means needed to develop technical material for a variety of consumers. The Open Source Movement created equal opportunities for people all over the world to participate in the global economy.

Members of the Open Source Movement stress the importance of differentiating between “open source” software and “free software”. Although the two issues are related, they are quite different. The open source movement and the free software movement are different but they work together. Both movements strive for freedom of the internet and dislike the idea of ownership over a website.[20] For both open source and free software, one can find the source code and executable component easily and for free online. The largest difference is that free software requires any changes to be submitted to the original maker for redistribution, and any derivative software must also be distributed as free software. This is mainly to keep companies from making minor changes to free software and redistributing it as their own, for a price.[21]

A major advantage to open source code is the ability for a variety of different people to edit and fix problems and errors that have occurred. Naturally because there are more people who can edit the material there are more people who can help make the information more credible and reliable. The open source mission statement promises better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. They stress the importance of maintaining the Open Source Definition. This trademark creates a trusted group that connects all users and developers together.[22] To fully understand the Open Source Definition, one must understand certain terms: Free redistribution means that there is no restriction on any party to sell or give away the software to third parties. Source Code means that the program must efficiently publicize the means of obtaining the source code. Derived works means that the program must allow certain works to be distributed under the same terms. There must be a promise of no discriminating against any certain persons or groups. All of these factors allow for the open source movement to become available to all and easy to access, which is their overall mission. The latest updates from the Open Source Institution took place on January 19, 2011: The OSI collaborated with the Free Software Foundation and together they updated a version of the request that they have sent to the US Department of Justice.[23]

Motivations of Programmers

With the growth and attention on the open source movement, the reasons and motivations of programmers for creating code for free has been under investigation. In a paper from the 15th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association on the open source movement, the incentives of programmers on an individual level as well as on a company or network level were analyzed. What is essentially the intellectual gift giving of talented programmers challenges the "self-interested-economic-agent paradigm,"[24] and has made both the public and economists search for an understanding of what the benefits are for programmers.

Drawbacks

Evidence of open source adoption

Libraries are using open source software to develop information as well as library services. The purpose of open source is to provide a software that is cheaper, reliable and has better quality. The one feature that makes this software so sought after is that it is free. Libraries in particular benefit from this movement because of the resources it provides. They also promote the same ideas of learning and understanding new information through the resources of other people. Open source allows a sense of community. It is an invitation for anyone to provide information about various topics. The open source tools even allow libraries to create web-based catalogs. According to the IT source there are various library programs that benefit from this.[30]

Government agencies and infrastructure software — Government Agencies are utilizing open source infrastructure software, like the Linux operating system and the Apache Web-server into software, to manage information.[32] In 2005, a new government lobby was launched under the name National Center for Open Source Policy and Research (NCOSPR) “a non-profit organization promoting the use of open source software solutions within government IT enterprises." [33]

Open Source Movement in the Military — Open source movement has potential to help in the military. The open source software allows anyone to make changes that will improve it. This is a form of invitation for people to put their minds together to grow a software in a cost efficient manner. The reason the military is so interested is because it is possible that this software can increase speed and flexibility. Although there are security setbacks to this idea due to the fact that anyone has access to change the software, the advantages can outweigh the disadvantages. The fact that the open source programs can be modified quickly is crucial. A support group was formed to test these theories. The Military Open Source Software Working Group was organized in 2009 and held over 120 military members. Their purpose was to bring together software developers and contractors from the military to discover new ideas for reuse and collaboration. Overall, open source software in the military is an intriguing idea that has potential drawbacks but they are not enough to offset the advantages.[34]

Open Source in Education — Colleges and organizations use software predominantly online to educate their students. Open source technology is being adopted by many institutions because it can save these institutions from paying companies to provide them with these administrative software systems. One of the first major colleges to adopt an open source system was Colorado State University in 2009 with many others following after that. Colorado State Universities system was produced by the Kuali Foundation who has become a major player in open source administrative systems. The Kuali Foundation defines itself as a group of organizations that aims to "build and sustain open source software for higher education, by higher education." There are many other examples of open source instruments being used in education other than the Kuali Foundation as well.[35]
“For educators, The Open Source Movement allowed access to software that could be used in teaching students how to apply the theories they were learning”.[36] With open networks and software, teachers are able to share lessons, lectures, and other course materials within a community. OpenTechComm is a program that is dedicated to “open access, open use, and open edits- text book or pedagogical resource that teachers of technical and professional communication courses at every level can rely on to craft free offerings to their students.” [37] As stated earlier, access to programs like this would be much more cost efficient for educational departments.

Open Source in Healthcare — Created in June 2009 by the nonprofit eHealthNigeria, the open source software OpenMRS is used to document health care in Nigeria. The use of this software began in Kaduna, Nigeria to serve the purpose of public health. OpenMRS manages features such as alerting health care workers when patients show warning signs for conditions and records births and deaths daily, among other features. The success of this software is caused by its ease of use for those first being introduced to the technology, compared to more complex proprietary healthcare software available in first world countries. This software is community-developed and can be used freely by anyone, characteristic of open source applications. So far, OpenMRS is being used in Rwanda, Mozambique, Haiti, India, China, and the Philippines.[38] The impact of open source in healthcare is also observed by Apelon Inc, the "leading provider of terminology and data interoperability solutions". Recently, its Distributed Terminology System (Open DTS) began supporting the open source MySQL database system. This essentially allows for open source software to be used in healthcare, lessening the dependence on expensive proprietary healthcare software. Due to open source software, the healthcare industry has available a free open source solution to implement healthcare standards. Not only does open source benefit healthcare economically, but the lesser dependence on proprietary software allows for easier integration of various systems, regardless of the developer.[39]

Companies

Google — this search engine has led the way in transformation of Web-based applications, such as books, scholarly journals, that are based primarily on open source software.[2] Google continues to make applications based on open software. In November 2009, Google announced that it would be “enabling people everywhere to find, and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state districts, appellate and supreme courts using Google Scholar”[40]

Microsoft — Before summer of 2008, Microsoft has generally been known as an enemy of the open source community. The company’s anti-open source sentiment was enforced by former CEO Steve Ballmer, who referred to Linux, a widely used open source software, as a “malignant cancer”. Microsoft also threatened Linux that they would charge royalties for violating 235 of their patents. In 2004, Microsoft lost a European Union court case,[41] and lost the appeal in 2007,[42] and their further appeal in 2012:[43] being convicted of abusing its dominant position. Specifically they had withheld inter-operability information with the open source Samba (software) project, which can be run on many platforms and aims to “removing barriers to interoperability”. In 2008, however, Sam Ramji, the then head of open source software strategy in Microsoft, began working closely with Bill Gates to develop a pro-open source attitude within the software industry as well as Microsoft itself. Ramji, before leaving the company in 2009, built Microsoft's familiarity and involvement with open source, which is evident in Microsoft's contributions of open source code to Windows Azure, “its new-age web service for building and hosting applications on the net”, among other projects. These contributions would have been previously unimaginable by Microsoft.[44] Microsoft’s change in attitude about open source and efforts to build a stronger open source community is evidence of the growing adoption and adaption of open source.[45][46]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wyllys, R.E. (2000). Overview of the Open-Source Movement. Retrieved November 22, 2009, from The University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Library & Information Science
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Warger, T. (2002). The Open Source Movement. Retrieved November 22, 2009, from Education Resources Information Center
  3. ↑ Tiemann, Michael (September 19, 2006). "History of the OSI". Open Source Initiative. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  4. ↑ A Brief History of the Open-Source Movement. Sloanreview.mit.edu (2011-11-18). Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  5. 1 2 3 History of the OSI | Open Source Initiative. Opensource.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  6. ↑ Weber, Steven. The Success of Open Source. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 2004. Print pg.20–28. ISBN 9780674018587 This whole paragraph is referenced to Steven Weber
  7. ↑ Tennant, D. (2008, August 11). Standing on Principle. Computerworld, p. 4. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database.
  8. ↑ Taft, D. K. (2009, November 3). Microsoft Recommits to $100k Apache Contribution at ApacheCon. Retrieved November 22, 2009 from eWeek
  9. ↑ Elliott, M. S.; Scacchi, Walt (2008). "Mobilization of software developers: The free software movement". Information Technology & People. 21 (1): 4. doi:10.1108/09593840810860315.
  10. ↑ Lerner, Josh; Tirole, Jean (March 2000). "The simple Economics of Open Source" (PDF). Cambridge, MA.: National Bureau of Economic Research. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.145.3577Freely accessible.
  11. ↑ Stallman, R. M. (2007). Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source". Retrieved November 22, 2009, from GNU.org
  12. ↑ The Open Source Definition | Open Source Initiative. Opensource.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  13. ↑ Sullivan, J. (2011). Free, open source software advocacy as a social justice movement: The expansion of f/oss movement discourse in the 21st century. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 8(3)
  14. ↑ Ceraso, A., & Pruchnic, J. (2011). Introduction: Open source culture and aesthetics. Criticism, 53(3), 337.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Webb, M. (2001, July 18). Going With Open Source Software. Retrieved November 22, 2009, from techsoup
  16. 1 2 The Benefits of Open Source. Albion.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  17. ↑ Fosfuri, Andrea; Giarratana, Marco; Luzzi, Alessandra. "The Penguin Has Entered the Building: The Commercialization of Open Source Software Products". Organization Science. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  18. ↑ von Hippel, Eric. "Open Source Software and the "Private-Collective" Innovation Model: Issues for Organization Science". Organization Science. INFORMS: Institute for Operations Research. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  19. 1 2 Kirk St.Amant & Brian D. Ballentine (http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sculib.scu.edu/ehost/detail?sid=7f13174d-c614-4ff9-a68d-b5336a49c866%40sessionmgr14&vid=7&hid=25)
  20. ↑ Elliott, Margaret S. "Institute for Software Research". University of California. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  21. ↑ West, Joel. "How open is open enough?: Melding proprietary and open source platform strategies". Research Policy, Volume 32, Issue 7, July 2003, Pages 1259-1285. Elsevier B.V. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  22. ↑ Poynder, R. (n.d.). IT Feature: The Open Source Movement. Information Today, Inc.. Retrieved January 25, 2011
  23. ↑ Wyllys, R. (n.d.). Overview of the Open-Source Movement. UT School of Information – Home Page. Retrieved January 25, 2011
  24. 1 2 3 4 Lerner, Josh; Jean Tirole (9 May 2001). "The open source movement: Key research questions". European Economic Review. 45 (4-6): 819–826. doi:10.1016/S0014-2921(01)00124-6. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  25. 1 2 3 Greenspun, Philip. "Managing Software Engineers". Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  26. ↑ Ye, Yunwen; Kouichi Kishida (3–10 May 2003). "Toward an Understanding of the Motivation of Open Source Software Developers" (PDF). International Conference of Software Engineering. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  27. ↑ Bonaccorsi, Andrea; Cristina Rossi (2003). "Why Open Source software can succeed". Open Source Software Development. 32 (7): 1243–1258. doi:10.1016/S0048-7333(03)00051-9.
  28. ↑ Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Source Software. Software Company. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  29. ↑ Golden, Bernard. Succeeding with Open Source. Pearson Education. 2005 ISBN 9780321268532
  30. 1 2 Poynder, Richard (2001). "The Open Source Movement". Information Today. 8 (9).
  31. ↑ Going With Open Source Software. Techsoup.org (2001-07-18). Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  32. ↑ Moore, J. (2008, August 14). A Starring Role for Open Source. Retrieved November 22, 2009, from Federal Computer Week: http://fcw.com/articles/2008/08/14/a-starring-role-for-open-source.aspx
  33. ↑ Chris Preimesberger Open Source Movement Gets a Lobby. eWeek. 14 October 2005
  34. ↑ Toon, John (2009). "Open Source Movement May Accelerate Military Software Development". Georgia Tech Research Institute. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  35. ↑ About. www.kuali.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  36. ↑ St.Amant & Ballentine 2011 p.343
  37. ↑ Still (http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sculib.scu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7f13174d-c614-4ff9-a68d-b5336a49c866%40sessionmgr14&vid=4&hid=25)
  38. ↑ eHealthNigeria. (2012). eHealthNigeria: FAQs. Retrieved Feb 4, 2012
  39. ↑ (2012, Jan 17). Apelon Announces Availability of a Completely Open Source Terminology Management Solution. Retrieved Feb 4, 2012
  40. ↑ Google. (2009, November 17). Finding the Laws that Govern Us. Retrieved November 22, 2009, from GoogleBlog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-laws-that-govern-us.html
  41. ↑ "Groklaw.net - The EU Microsoft Decision - December 2004". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  42. ↑ "Groklaw.net - EU Ct. of 1st Instance: Microsoft Abused its Dominant Position - Updated - September 2007". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  43. ↑ "Groklaw.net Microsoft Loses Its EU Appeal". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  44. ↑ Metz, Cade. (2012, Jan 30). Meet Bill Gates, the Man Who Changed Open Source Software. Retrieved Feb 4, 2012
  45. ↑ Metz, Cade. (2011, Nov 4). How Microsoft Learned to Stop Worrying and (Almost) Love Open Source. Retrieved Feb 4, 2012
  46. ↑ The Samba Team. (n.d). Samba: Opening Windows to a Wider World, What is Samba?. Retrieved Feb 4, 2012

Further reading

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