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 Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:05 pm
As many of you know, and perhaps a few of you are just learning, Linux is all about Open Source. This does NOT, however, mean that everything is free, or that ALL unixes are about open source..
So what's the difference? There's a big one, actually... First, when people talk about free, in the Open Source community, there's 2 types of free they mean...
Free as in Speech: This means you have a certain freedom to do whatever you want with something, usually, source code. This means you can modify it to your liking, alter the program, and even use that code inside other applications you're writing. You may be requested (or required) to post your changes and provide back to the community, but you have the freedom to do what you wish with the code, so long as it doesn't violate anybody else's rights (things like claiming ownership of it, saying you wrote it, etc)
Free as in Beer: This means that something is free for you to download and use. Generally this applies to products, or something conceptually real. No other rights are guaranteed.
Note the difference between the two: The first one doesn't guarantee that it's not something you have to pay for. In fact, it doesn't say anything about the price at all. The software that may be free as in speech may costs thousands of dollars. It's only "free" so much as you being able to tinker with it and alter it to your specific needs. However, the software that is free as in beer is free for you to download and use, but doesn't guarantee you have the right to change it, modify it, or anything else other than use it as-is. That is the biggest difference between the types of "free" in the Open Source world. Open Source generally implies the 1st type of free (speech), while typing it as open source (lowercase) doesn't always have that connotation.
For the record, most windows software is the 2nd type of free, and it sucks. Windows devs haven't realized what being Open Source can provide to them yet (peer reviews, faster bug fixes, faster secuirty fixes (and of course faster exploits against the product). Generally, the products mature faster.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:53 am
Another distinction: Open Source means that you have access to the source code, Closed Source means little black box. It does something, but you'll never know how without decompiling it, which is illegall.
Linux: Open source. You may have ot pay to get some programs source code, but your can get it and modify it.
Windows: Closed source. You may be able ot obtain the source code, but it's only an image and you can't modify it.
Certain linux apps: Closed source. Whilst linux may be open source, it doesn't mean the programs that get made or sold HAVE to be, they just generally are.
Case and point: Arcsoftware libraries (outmoded): Closed source, and fairly pricey. Those who could afford it loved it in the fact that it brought support for .exe files and auto linking to OpenGL libraries. Basicly it allowed you to do Nix gaming out of the box (somewhat). Of course it cost about 300 smackers USD for a personal lic, and a buisiness lic with 20 was around 8k. The server lic wiht unlimited was 12k. Talk about pricey. Now there's anotehr one around for about 20 bucks, but instead of being universal support, it's specialized.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:05 pm
I liked how you explained the types of free, and what Windows is and what soem of Linux is, but you might want to add the definition of "open source" for us Linux retards in the guild... and when i say us, i mean me xp
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:18 am
skatcat31 Open Source means that you have access to the source code That is pretty much the definition of "Open Source", nothing is hidden from us, if we want to know how a program works we just find the files for that program open it up in a text viewer or editor we can see everything from what it is copy righted with to the program coding. Also with open source you are able to build someone else's programs into your own, so if you wanted to make a mix of a media player and burning program you can use something like Amarok, media player for KDE, and K3B, CD and DVD burner for KDE, and make on big program with them. If you want more information on Open Source you can always use wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source (The article may not be exact right now, it is taged for clean up so I would double read everything)
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:28 pm
vendion skatcat31 Open Source means that you have access to the source code nothing is hidden from us, if we want to know how a program works we just find the files for that program open it up in a text viewer or editor we can see everything from what it is copy righted with to the program coding. That's pretty much the only reason that Linux can have Security issues But It Goes Both Ways easier to find also means easier to fix
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:57 am
jmad980 vendion skatcat31 Open Source means that you have access to the source code nothing is hidden from us, if we want to know how a program works we just find the files for that program open it up in a text viewer or editor we can see everything from what it is copy righted with to the program coding. That's pretty much the only reason that Linux can have Security issues But It Goes Both Ways easier to find also means easier to fix Luckily things are on the possible side of that, more people use that access the the source code to find problems and get them fixed than to attack them.
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