Will commercial software survive the battle with open Source software or are they already losing? How (if at all) are the commercial software houses defending themselves?
Part 1: Basic Concepts:
Terms:
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software that is both open source software and free software. This means that it is freely licensed to use, examine, copy, alter the source code of the software, and the source code it self is openly shared. However, for software to be considered FOSS it must pass a certain criteria established by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). They determine that FOSS must have a completely free redistribution with no form of royalty or other form of a fee for the sale (resellers) and the source code must be
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Therefore, it falls into the distinct categories of shareware (demo or trial software where you can download it for free but some features are restricted or to continue to use the software a payment is required) and payware (traditional pay-to-use software) but not freeware (since its free). In all cases however, the source code is hidden from the users, so that the rights holders (the software publishers) can sell the binary executable (source code).
History:
Commercial software has been around since 1948 (when the first computer which could hold software was created, nicknamed baby). The history of FOSS has a strong connection with the ‘hackers’ in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These hackers in 1970s created something ARPANET (known today as the internet). There were discussions to sell it commercially however the university and its hackers were strongly opposed to such an idea for they had worked with the ideology that sharing information is a virtue and they had a moral duty to provide knowledge to the world. These early hackers stayed true to this ideology and made their software completely free with the source code completely accessible. Richard Stallman was one of the main people who pushed forward this ideology preventing the university to monetize the ARPANET and the software they created.
Late in 1997 in MIT the term Open Source software was coined. The developers also founded OSI who determined what is
The first price for game software was $US5.99 and it was unchanged. Low fee made it impossible for the majority of software companies to compete and most of the competitors were either bought by SesamWare or went out of business within three years. SesamWare was once again at the center of an international lawsuit, this time for subverting free market competition.
Linux is the most important free software it has developed into a an operating for business , education , and personal productivity. Linux is so different because of its free implementation of Unix
Linux is a free open-source software that anybody can use . Most people use computers don't even know that Linux exists. Most people just use whatever is already downloaded onto the computer. Or if they buy computer that has no software on it they would buy Windows or Mac since it's displayed in many stores. Difference between Linux and windows / Macs is that you can download a version that specifically displays OS that relates to what you want to use it for. For example there's different distributions that are customized to be only used for editing software. or on the other hand many people just want to use the terminal or start with a o s that is used for coding. Either way you can find many different types of Linux that you can download anywhere on the internet. all of these being free. this is one of the main
Beginning with the history of Linux, in 1984, Richard Stallman, a programmer that was working for the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, left his position with a vision of software
Based on Davidson and Kumagai’s (2008) article, list three advantages and risks associated with open source software.
While researching the Open Source Software topic I found a wealth of information in the internet as well as many technical periodicals but, was most intrigued by the work of Richard M. Stallman in the book Free Software Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman, which will be used as on of the references in this research. An interesting point found in Mr. Stallman book is that most people hear the work Open Source Software and they immediately think Linux. While the
With an open source program, anybody can create for the program, giving it a much bigger foundation for designers and gives them a greater sense of proprietorship as they can change whatever they like (Sacks, 2015).
Software has become an integral part of our society. The economic success of our country depends on the success of the software industry. ``Open source ' ' software, software which users are allowed to modify and redistribute, is a very important part of the software industry
Free software is free, users can change code, and source code is available to anyone.
The Department of Defense (DoD) chose to incorporate open-source software (OSS), in their approach to the software development for the military organizations (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). The OSS approach is beneficial, because it allows users to study the computer code as a way to enhance and redistribute modified versions of the software to other users (Chief Information Officer, 2009). The DoD wants software to be open for peer-review to strengthen the software reliability and be open to the public as a secure source. John Scott of Mercury Federal Systems, helped to incorporate the DoD’s open-source changes to be used by the public, which was an effort to speed-up software development and improve the cost to make it more affordable to
their homes. "Back then the computer community added up to a few brainy hobbyist. So when Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs sold a van and two programmable calculators for thirteen hundred
- Hybrid to include two to three operating system companies and one software company (Lawrence, 461). This breakup seems sound and would create competition and avoid the problems of dividing applications and Internet Business, but will still take away from an industry standard.
A rather unique strategy used by American software manufactures helps raise local interest in stopping software piracy. Companies invest money to begin software corporations in foreign countries. After a few years, the US companies hope that the new, foreign companies will initiate their own anti-piracy organizations (Weisband 30). Microsoft has led the venture by creating small software companies to help battle piracy. By doing this, the companies would want to report piracy because they would be losing money just like American companies are doing now (Weisband 33). The Software Publishers Association, based in Washington, D.C., was developed to combat software piracy. As of 1993 the SPA has brought more than 1300 court cases against software pirates. The SPA has a toll-free number that has helped catch many pirates and prosecute them (O' Malley 50). The SPA is not merely a law enforcement agency. It meets twice a year with representatives from software companies. Together they decide how to make their software better and also how to better serve the consumer. In the spring 1993 conference the SPA decided that if software packages could develop a standard way to clearly label a software box, the consumer would immediately know if the program would run well on his computer. This labeling would help reduce the number of software returns in stores (Karnes 4). Since software stores cannot resell returned software, the
The Linux was originally founded by Linus Torvalds. In 1991, he was a second year computer science student in Finland. He sought after an operating system that was similar to the UNIX system, but both UNIX and the hardware it ran on were excessively expensive. A UNIX version called Minix was available for free, but it did not reasonably meet his needs as it was simply an operating system for students, designed primarily as a teaching tool rather than an industry strength operating system. As a result, Torvalds studied Minix and proceeded to set out to write a new version. After six months of working to produce the new operating system, Torvalds made very little progress toward the utility of the system.
In Windows, you can run lots of different program programs. There are customized programs and off-the-shelf (common) programs. These allow you to do everything from running your bowling league to typing up a correspondence.