Archive for the ‘Free Software’ Category

Open source: Free as in beer, puppy… or mattress? – ZDNet

An abandoned mattress may be free to use, but without knowing where it came from, would you want to?

When open source first started to become mainstream in the 90s, there was a good deal of debate about what 'free software' meant.

It wasn't just about something you didn't have to pay for, went the philosophy, it was also about being able to see the source code to understand what was going on, and to make your own changes.

'Free' as in speech, not 'free' as in beer, went the motto.

That's a good start, but it doesn't really go far enough; free speech has consequences but they're not the first thing people think of when you say that. The argument that 'all bugs are trivial when you have enough eyeballs' assumes that all those eyeballs belong to people who are looking, understanding, and contributing.

In a lot of cases, many eyeballs are shallow eyeballs, because everyone assumes that someone else has done the hard work of understanding the code. And as open source becomes widely used, there are many more people using open source code who aren't going to be expert coders in the language a particular project is written in -- if they're coders at all.

So I started saying that open source was also 'free as in puppy'. Yes, it looks cute, but when you bring it home you have to feed it, exercise it, clean up its messes and take responsibility for it. And when it grows up, that puppy may not be the small, cute, little project you saw in the window, so you need to look into the pedigree of that puppy.

As open source has become more important commercially, a lot more people have started talking about 'free as in puppy' -- because any software you pick up and incorporate into your business or your development workflow brings with it responsibilities. Key open source software that an entire industry relies on has been critically underfunded for decades; the Linux Foundation's Critical Infrastructure projects are an attempt to redress this, because it doesn't just happen on its own.

If you were using FoundationDB because you thought it was open source like the other NoSQL databases, because you'd never read the licence, you would have got a rude shock when Apple bought the company and pulled all the code from GitHub. Turns out it was only some code to help you use the proprietary database code that was actually open source.

If the open source puppy makes things sound too appealing, I sometimes say 'free as in mattress'. As in, there's a mattress leaning up against a wall, and anyone can take it home -- but without knowing where it came from, would you want to?

Now, open source is becoming so widely used that open source creators and maintainers are starting to feel the strain, not least because not all new open source users are polite, friendly, and considerate (nor indeed, are all experienced open source users).

It's great to report a bug in an open source project, or even write up some code to fix it and submit that as a pull request. But whether it's the sheer volume of reports, the users who are rude and demanding when they give feedback or criticize the direction of the open source project, the would-be contributors who offer code that doesn't fit the long-term direction of the project or just increases the maintenance work for the project, open source creators and maintainers are starting to talk about overload and burnout, self care, and prioritization.

It's a tragedy of the commons, because individuals don't scale the way technology does.

The usual answer is to suggest how important it is to have a community (formal or informal) around projects to share that load, but it's easy to forget how hard it is to build and nurture those communities. Look at the Node.js contribution policy to see how much work it takes to run a large community.

If you're working on building an open source community, take a look at Nadia Eghbal's (free) book, Roads and Bridges: The unseen labour behind our digital infrastructure.

Seeing the latest discussions about how widely unappreciated the work to maintain open source is made me add another free to my list: free as in 'night off'.

There's a reason that commercial software companies don't only have developers -- they have testers, support teams, marketers, and an entire ecosystem supporting the coders. A lot of larger open source projects are sponsored by or interlinked with commercial companies, because that ecosystem can be a thriving business, as well as taking a load off the coders.

Not everyone wants to add a commercial aspect to their open source project, so we need a wide range of models to make this work. But if we're not thinking about all the meanings of 'free' for open source, we're going to keep seeing unintended but very predictable consequences for code that we're all coming to depend on.

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Open source: Free as in beer, puppy... or mattress? - ZDNet

Learn about Open Source, Free Software and Open World Economy at OpenExpo 1st June, 2017 Madrid, – Irish Tech News

Learn about Open Source, Free Software and Open World Economy at OpenExpo 1st June, 2017 Madrid,
Irish Tech News
The OpenExpo events were launched in October 2012 by Philippe Lardy and Manu Snchez. Since its creation, the aim has been to promote the Open Source and Free Software as well as help companies to know the different Open Source and Free ...

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Learn about Open Source, Free Software and Open World Economy at OpenExpo 1st June, 2017 Madrid, - Irish Tech News

Indian State of Kerala Saves $58 Million Each Year By Using Free And Open Source Software – Fossbytes

Short Bytes:Kerala adopted Free and Open Source Software in 2005 in a phased manner and went on to replaceproprietary software. As a result, Kerala annually saves $58 million (Rs 300 crore). Thanks to the Free Software license, people are able to freely copy and distribute the software.

Having said that, weve told you numerous stories that involved European cities and countries choosing open source software. But, today, Im going to tell you about an Indian state that has been doing so for a long time.

In Kerala, IT became a compulsory subject in 2003. It was followed by the phased adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in 2005. This was done to replace the proprietary software.

K. Anwar Sadath, executive director [emailprotected], said that they have been given the job for easy classroom teaching, teachers training, and customization ofapplications, reports AINS.

Mr. Sadath said that theproprietary version of asoftware would have incurred a minimum cost of Rs 150,000 per machine in terms of thelicense fee.Considering the 20,000 machines, the annual saving is minimum Rs 300 crore ($58 million). He further adds that the free nature of FOSS allows the people to copy and share software without any restriction.

Kerala IT News reports that Ubuntu Linux is loaded in all laptops and desktops for school. Also, the revised textbook would include GNUKhata as a replacement for Tally and LibreOffice as a replacement for Microsoft Office.

Do you have some interesting local story regarding the adoption of open source software? Feel free to share it with us and we might feature it on Fossbytes.

Bonus Video: 10 InterestingLinux Facts

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Indian State of Kerala Saves $58 Million Each Year By Using Free And Open Source Software - Fossbytes

Free stuff from NASA! Robots, drones, satellites! – CNET

Just because you don't work for NASA doesn't mean you can't use its code.

On Wednesday, the space agency released its latest online software catalog of over 1,000 code descriptions related to topics such as guidance systems, robotics, aeronautics, climate simulators, biological sensors and design tools.

The codes are free but have varying levels of access restrictions. Some are open to all US citizens. Others are restricted for use by other federal agencies. Some are available to people outside the US. Others are open source.

The open-source material can be downloaded directly, but many items require at least the creation of an account. Some codes have stiffer access requirements, such as a current government contract or the signing of a usage agreement.

"Software has been a critical component of each of NASA's mission successes and scientific discoveries," NASA Technology Transfer program executive Dan Lockney said in a statement. "In fact, more than 30 percent of all reported NASA innovations are software. We're pleased to transfer these tools to other sectors and excited at the prospect of seeing them implemented in new and creative ways."

NASA published the first edition of its software catalog in 2014. According to NASA, it was the "first comprehensive listing of publicly available software to be compiled by a federal government agency -- the largest creator of custom code."

This year's NASA software catalog provides codes for projects such as past shuttle missions and the Curiosity rover. The catalog features 15 broad categories, including system testing, propulsion, electronics and electrical power, environmental science, design and integration tools, crew and life support, and autonomous systems.

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Free stuff from NASA! Robots, drones, satellites! - CNET

NASA just released a crazy amount of software you can use for free – Fast Company

This week, Taser filed a pair of lawsuits claiming that the body cameras of competitor Vievu are defective. The complaints allegethat its upstart rival's cameras can lose about 5 frames per minute. The suits come two weeks after Vievu sued Taseron the claim that the company had illegally lobbied officials in the city of Phoenix to abandon a $3.6 million camera contract that Vievu had recently won.

The body-camera war has also included skirmishes in New York City, where Vievu's win of a $6.4 million body camera contract sparked similar accusations about the quality of its products and a fierce lobbying campaign by Taser. Last month, amid questions over the contract, the tussle led Mayor Bill de Blasio to complain of a "smear" campaignagainstVievu.

In a statement to Fast Company in response to Taser's new lawsuits, John Collins, a Vievu spokesman, said the company "believes in its cameras and technology, and looks forward to a full discovery process in which the public can see Taser's underhanded tactics in full view."

Taser, the market leader, has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that its cameras are simply superior to its rivals. And as it develops its software and cloud storage ecosystem for video, the company is also determined to be known as an innovator.As CEO and cofounder Rick Smith explained to me, the technology vision is much bigger than hardware: The coming generation of cameras will be bolstered by live-streaming, object and face recognition, and artificial intelligence.

[Image: Vievu] AP

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NASA just released a crazy amount of software you can use for free - Fast Company