The Free Software Movement

Introducing the Free Software movement together with John Tsiombikas for the 'Students Srping Symposium' back at 2006.

1. TheFreeSoftwareMovement
Efstathios Foulidis
Ioannis Tsiombikas
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Free Software Movement – p. 1

2. TheFreeSoftwareMovement
Topics:
•
TheGNUProject
•
FreeSoftwareDenition
•
SoftwareCategories
•
Licenses-Copyleft-GNUGPL
•
EthicalIssuesandTechnicalAdvantages
The Free Software Movement – p. 2

3. TheGNUProject
What'sGNU?GNU'sNOTUNIX!
HistoryBackground:
The Free Software Movement – p. 3

4. TheGNUProject
What'sGNU?GNU'sNOTUNIX!
HistoryBackground:
•
TheFirstSoftware-SharingCommunity
The Free Software Movement – p. 3

5. TheGNUProject
What'sGNU?GNU'sNOTUNIX!
HistoryBackground:
•
TheFirstSoftware-SharingCommunity
•
GNUSoftwareandtheGNUSystem
The Free Software Movement – p. 3

6. TheGNUProject
What'sGNU?GNU'sNOTUNIX!
HistoryBackground:
•
TheFirstSoftware-SharingCommunity
•
GNUSoftwareandtheGNUSystem
•
CopyleftandtheGNUGPL
The Free Software Movement – p. 3

7. TheGNUProject
What'sGNU?GNU'sNOTUNIX!
HistoryBackground:
•
TheFirstSoftware-SharingCommunity
•
GNUSoftwareandtheGNUSystem
•
CopyleftandtheGNUGPL
•
TheFreeSoftwareFoundation
The Free Software Movement – p. 3

8. GNUandLinux
ManyusersrunactuallyaGNUsystemontheir
computerwithoutrealizingit.
Linuxisnotanoperatingsystem,isakernel. A
programthatallocatesresourcesforotherprogramsto
run.
Befullyawareofthedistinctionbetweenthekernel,
whichisLinux,andthewholesystem,whichisthe
“GNU/Linux”.
The Free Software Movement – p. 4

9. FreeSoftwareDenition
`FreeSoftware'isamatterofliberty,notprice. To
understandtheconcept,youshouldthinkof“free”as
in“freespeech”,notasin“freebeer”.
FreeSoftwareisamatteroftheusersfreedomtorun,
copy,distribute,study,change,andimprovethe
software.
Sometimescompaniesusetheterm“freesoftware”to
refertoprice. Alwayscheckthedistributiontermsof
theproduct.
The Free Software Movement – p. 5

10. FreeSoftwareDenition
Aprogramisfreesoftwarewhenyouhave:
The Free Software Movement – p. 6

11. FreeSoftwareDenition
Aprogramisfreesoftwarewhenyouhave:
•
Thefreedomtoruntheprogram,foranypurpose
The Free Software Movement – p. 6

12. FreeSoftwareDenition
Aprogramisfreesoftwarewhenyouhave:
•
Thefreedomtoruntheprogram,foranypurpose
•
Thefreedomtostudyhowtheprogramworks,and
adaptittoyourneeds(Accesstothesourcecode
isapreconditionforthis)
The Free Software Movement – p. 6

13. FreeSoftwareDenition
Aprogramisfreesoftwarewhenyouhave:
•
Thefreedomtoruntheprogram,foranypurpose
•
Thefreedomtostudyhowtheprogramworks,and
adaptittoyourneeds(Accesstothesourcecode
isapreconditionforthis)
•
Thefreedomtoredistributecopiessoyoucanhelp
yourneighbor
The Free Software Movement – p. 6

14. FreeSoftwareDenition
Aprogramisfreesoftwarewhenyouhave:
•
Thefreedomtoruntheprogram,foranypurpose
•
Thefreedomtostudyhowtheprogramworks,and
adaptittoyourneeds(Accesstothesourcecode
isapreconditionforthis)
•
Thefreedomtoredistributecopiessoyoucanhelp
yourneighbor
•
Thefreedomtoimprovetheprogram,andrelease
yourimprovementstothepublic,sothatthewhole
communitybenets(Accesstothensourcecodeis
apreconditionforthis)
The Free Software Movement – p. 6

15. SoftwareCategories
•
GPL-CompatibleFreeSoftwareLicenses
•
GPL-Incompatible,FreeSoftwareLicenses
•
Non-FreeSoftwareLicenses
The Free Software Movement – p. 7

16. FreeSoftwareandOpenSource
TheFreeSoftwaremovementandtheOpenSource
movementaretwoseperatemovements. Theterm
“opensource”hasdifferentapproachandphilosophy.
Thefundamentalsdifferencesbetweenthetwo
movementsisintheirvalues. FortheOpenSource
movement,theissueofwhethersoftwareshouldbe
opensourceisapracticalquestionandnotanethical
one.
Peopleshoulddistinguishthosetwoterms. Avoid
usingtheword“open”todescribefreesoftware.
Theactualenemyisproprietarysoftware.
The Free Software Movement – p. 8

17. Copyleft
WhatisCopyleft?
Copyleftisamethodformakingtheprogramfree,and
requiringallmodiedversionstobefreeaswell. Isa
generalconcept. TheGNUProjectusestheGNU
GeneralPublicLicensetodescribethetermsunder
thesoftwarewillbe,andremainfree.
Insteadofputtingsoftwareinthepublicdomain,
“copyleft”it.
Copyleftguaranteesthatalltheusershavefreedom
whenthesoftwareisbeingredistributed.
The Free Software Movement – p. 9

18. GNUGPL
GNUGeneralPublicLicense,orGNUGPL,isafree
softwarelicense.
GPLisintendedtoguaranteeyourfreedomtoshare
andchangefreesoftware,andtomakesurethe
softwarewillremainfreeforalltheusers.
GPLisdesignedtomakesurethatyouhavethe
freedomtodistributecopiesoffreesoftware(and
chargeforthisserviceifyouwish),thatyoureceive
sourcecodeorcangetitifyouwantit,thatyoucan
changethesoftwareorusepiecesofitinnewfree
programs.
The Free Software Movement – p. 10

19. GNULGPLandGNUFDL
TheGNULesserGeneralPublicLicense,formerly
calledLibraryGPL,isusedbyafewGNUlibraries.
UsingtheLGPLlicenseyoupermitusageofalibrary
fromaproprietaryprogram. Itisamatterofstrategy
anditdependsfromthesituation.
TheGNUFreeDocumentationLicenseisaformof
copyleftintendedforuseonamanual,textbookor
otherdocumenttoassureeveryonetheeffective
freedomtocopyandredistributeit.
The Free Software Movement – p. 11

20. GNUGPLv3
The3rdversionoftheGNUGeleralPublicLicenseis
expectedtobereleasedatJanuaryof2007.
MajorChanges:
•
Protectionforredistributingsoftware
•
DRMprotection-EnsureModication
•
Compatibilitywithotherfreesoftwarelicenses
Visithttp://gplv3.fsf.org/tocontributeandmake
commentsonGPLv3,andalsoreceiveinformationon
theGPLv3draftingprocess.
The Free Software Movement – p. 12

21. EthicalIssues
Whysoftwareshouldbefree?
Restrictionsonthedistributionandmodicationofthe
programcannotfacilitateitsuse.
•
Fewerpeopleusetheprogram
•
Noneoftheuserscanadaptorxtheprogram
•
Otherdeveloperscannotlearnfromtheprogram,
orbasenewworkonit
Programmingisfun.
The Free Software Movement – p. 13

22. EthicalIssues
Whysoftwareshouldnothaveowners?
Thesystemofcopyrightgivesthesoftwareprograms
“owners”,mostofwhomaimtowithholdsoftware's
potentialbenet.
Severalkindsofargumentsfromownerslike,“piracy”,
“intellectualproperty”,“theft”etc.,iswayforgiving
themthepowertocontrolhowwecanuseinformation.
Societyneedsprogramsthatpeoplecanread,x,
adaptandimproveandnotjustoperate. Whena
programhasanowner,theuserslosefreedom.
The Free Software Movement – p. 14

23. TechnicalAdvantages
FreeSoftwareismorereliable!
Freesoftwaregetsthewholecommunityinvolvedin
workingtogethertoxproblems. Usersnotonlyreport
bugs,theyevenxbugs.
Developersreallycareaboutreliability. Freesoftware
packagescompeteforagoodreputation. Also,a
programmerwhomakesthesourcecodeavailablefor
alltosee,putshisreputationontheline.
The Free Software Movement – p. 15

24. TheFreeSoftwareMovement
http://www.fsf.org
http://www.gnu.org
Thankyou.
The Free Software Movement – p. 16