EGU 2013: Splinter Meeting: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Geosciences
FOSS ( Free Open Source Software)...FOSS ( Free Open Source Software) 28-11-2012 Centre for...
Transcript of FOSS ( Free Open Source Software)...FOSS ( Free Open Source Software) 28-11-2012 Centre for...
28-11-2012
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Hyderabad
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FOSS
( Free Open Source Software)
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Overview
Introduction & History of FOSS
Why FOSS
FOSS Philosophy
FOSS Development Methods
Benifits of FOSS
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Introduction to FOSS What is Free/Open Source Software ?
“Briefly, OSS/FS programs are programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program (without having to pay royalties to previous developers).”
By David Wheeler
Computer Software where the source code of the software made available to all users, for the inspection and possible modification.
Freedom to run , copy , distribute, study, change and improve the software.
• Worldwide popular movements
• Many advantages
• Source Code open with the software
• Normally no cost and full freedom
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History of FOSS
The free/open source software movement began in the “ hacker” culture of U.S computer science laboratories ( Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT) in the 1960's and 1970's Momentum with Linux , Linus Torvalds More and more companies and governments endorsing and supporting the movement. Large development/evangelistic community
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Why FOSS
“Open-source software has been called many things : a movement, a fad, a virus, a communist conspiracy, even the heart and soul of the Internet.
But one point is often overlooked: Open-source
software is also a highly effective vehicle for the transfer of wealth from the industrialized world to developing countries. “
By Andrew Leonard 1. No cost 2. Usage normally as on its basis, source not included
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Why FOSS Cont..
Affordability
High cost of computing: hardware and software
Increasing the outreach difficult
Large scale piracy rampant in many places.
FOSS reports low Total Cost of Ownership
Accessibility
Computer usage requires English familiarity
A tiny fraction of India meets this requirement
Digital Divide
Software Localization
Adapt software to local language, culture, etc
Need access to source code
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Why FOSS Cont .Other Factores
More choice to users
Ability to leverage local expertise for adaptation and development
Jump start to local Industry lower entry barrier
No vendor Locking
Large distributed community to maintain/develop
Can do local changes, if resources available
Increased reliability
Due to community development
Due to transparent sources.
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Degree of Freedom
0 – To run the program, for any purpose
1 – To study the code and adopt to individual need
2 – To redistibute the copies
3 – To redistribute my improved versions
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FOSS Philosophy
There are two major philosophies in the
FOSS world.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Philosophy
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) Philosophy
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FSF Philosophy
The freedom to run a program, for any
purpose
The freedom to study how a program
works and adapt it to a person's need.
Access to the source code is a
precondition for this
The freedom to redistribute copies so that
you can help your neighbour
The freedom to improve a program and
release your improvements to the public,
so that the whole community benefits.
Access to the source code is a
precondition for this
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OSI Philosophy The basic Idea behind Open Source is very simple
The programmers can
– Read the source code
– Redistribute the source code , and
– Modify the source code for a pieces of software.
The People can
– Improve it
– Adapt it
– Fix bugs
The all will lead speed up
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Comparision between FS & OS Sr No Features Free Software (FS) Open Source (OS)
01 Philosophical Intelectual freedom Practical freedom
02
General It based on the ethics of software freedom
It is based on the pragmatism
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Definitions The term free software was coined to mean software that came with freedowms that you otherwise would not have had
The open source definition, notably, presents an open-source philosophy, and further defines a boundary on the usage, modification and redistribution
04 Word coined by Richard Stallman Eric Raymond
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Is FOSS Free ? 1. Free means “ free of Charge”- is certain degree is true. 2. No true FOSS application charges a licencing fee for usage. 3. On a licensing cost basis, FOSS applications are almost
always cheaper than proprietary software 4. Licencing cost are not the only costs of a software package or
infrastructure. It is also necessary to consider personal costs, hardware requirements, opportunity costs and training costs.
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Importance of FOSS
Freedom to learn, redistribute and enhance
Prevents single vendor and technology locking
Promotion and preservation of open standards
Peer review and feedback will lead to :
More robust and reliable software
Better security and faster bug fixes
Promotes environment for positive competition, self learning, exploring and cooperation
Benefits developing countries....
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FOSS Development Methods
Foss development methods are unique and become possible only with the advent of the Internet and the communication boom caused by it.
The Cathedral and bazaar analogies are
used to contrast the FOSS development model with traditional software development methods
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Traiditional Method
Traditional Method shows that a Vice President of Development at the top, with several Directors of Engineering reporting to the VP.
Below the Directors are Engineering Managers, and finally the engineers who write the code.
Many Organizations use this model, and everyone agrees it is sometimes grossly inefficient.
Vice President
Director
Manager Manager
Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer
Director Director
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Cathedral Method
The diagrams explains Cathedral or open source ,
uses a single designer/ architect at the top, with
many engineers reporting directly to the architect.
Designer /
Architect
Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer
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Bazaar Method
Engineer Engineer Engineer Engineer
Engineer
Engineer Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
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Bazaar Method Diagram
In this method all are connected peer-to-peer network of many engineers, all reporting to and
coordinating with each other, without central control
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Bazaar method Advantages
1. Reduced Duplication of effort 2. Building upon the work of others 3. Better quality control 4. Reduced Maintenance costs
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Benifits of using FOSS The private/public organizations are adopting FOSS
aggressively besides the low cost and those are: 1. Security 2. Reliability / Stability 3. Open standards and vendor independence 4. Reduced reliance on imports 5. Developing local software capacity 6. Piracy, IPR, and WTO 7. Localization
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Security
Reasons for FOSS's better security
1. Availability od Source code. 2. Security focus, instead of user-friendliness 3. Roots
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Open standards and Vendor Independence
Open standards give users, whether individuals or governments,flexibility and the freedom to change between different software packages, platforms and vendors.
Advantage of FOSS is that they almost use open standards due the these two
reasons:
1. Availability of the source code. 2. Active Standards compliance.
Proprietary, secret standards lock users into using software only from
one vendor and leave them at the mercy of the vendor at a later stage, when all their data is in the vendor's proprietary format and the costs of converting them to an open standard is prohibitive
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Developing local Software Capacity
There are three reasons been listed by the International Institute of Infonomics for positive correlation between the growth of a FOSS Developer base and the innovative capacities(software) of an economy.
1. Low barriers to entry 2. FOSS as an excellent training System. 3. FOSS as a source of standards.
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Localization Statement from Localisation Industry Standards Associationon
Localization:
“ Localization involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale ( country/region
and language) where it will be used and sold “ Localization is one of the areas where FOSS dominates because of its open nature. Users
are able to modify FOSS to suit the unique requirements of a particular cultural region, regardless of economic size.
All that is necessary is the technical capability within a small number of individuals to
creates a minimally localized version of any FOSS. While the construction of a completely localized software platform is no small feat, it is at
least possible.
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Open Source Software
Operating System : GNU/Linux , FreeBSD
Office Suite : Open office, Star Office, Easy Office
Email: Evolution, Thunderbird
Browser : Firefox, Conqueror, Galeon
Database : MySQL, PostgreSQL,DB2
Ecommerce : Library management, Multimedia, content Development, etc
Software available for a wide range of requirements.
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Open Source Definition Open source doesn't just mean acces to the
source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1.Free Redistribution
2. Source Code
3. Derived Works
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
5. No, Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
7. Distribute of License
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
9. License Must Not Restrict Other software
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
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Linux Linux 'Commercial' Versions available from many
vendors :
Redhat, suse, Mandrake, Gentoo, Knoppix, etc.
A wide range of Softwares and Tools Available
The Comparable GUI with Windows available
GNOME, KDE, etc
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Open standards
Standards which are not owned by a single Agencies.
Which applies to
• Documents
• Media files ( Audio, Video, Images, etc..)
• Databases
• Web Content , etc...
FOSS Development by nature, follows open standard mostly
• Adopt Open standard whereever possible
• Reduce dependencies on single vendors
• Data lock-in is expensive
• ODF : Open Standard for Documents, Spreadsheets. etc.
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Linux Distributions BOSS
Suse
Mandriva
Knoppix
Debian
Ubuntu
Redhat/Fedora
...Etc...
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Desktops KDE (*)
Gnome(*)
Xfce
ICEWm
Fluxbase
Enlightenment
Ratpoison
EvilWm
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Referrences
Wikipedias *
http://www.opensource.org/osd.html
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FOSS_A_General_Introduction/
http://www.beautifulsoftware.com/phpdocs/manage_themselves.php