Essay on Open Source Movement

The world of computing has always been a dynamic one. Computers range from tiny embedded devices in cars and refrigerators to massive super-computers. The nature of change and advancement in this field has made it so that the smallest computing devices used today are more powerful than the largest machines used in the past. Each generational advancement in hardware and software creates new uses for computers and provides users with alternative and often better ways to perform tasks.

For a greater number of computer users, this started to change in the early nineties when Linux and BSD first started gaining popularity. Linux grew into viable operating system alternative with all the performance and features of commercial systems such as Windows or Mac OS. The main difference between Linux and the other commercial systems is that Linux is free. BSD followed a similar evolution. The Open Source movement represents a change in the way that computers are used, where most of the software needed to operate them can be obtained without cost.

What is Open Source?
The most simplistic perception of Open Source Software (OSS) is that the source code is freely available. This is a working definition. Technically speaking, for a software composition to be considered open source it must meet the nine criteria of the Open Source Definition (OSD). The first three of these criteria "enshrine the basic characteristics that lie at the heart of the new [open source] methodology." (Golden, 12)

These three criteria state that the distribution license of the software must provide: the right to distribute the software freely, the availability of the source code, and the right to create derived works through modifications to the source code. The other criteria "spell out ancillary requirements; for example, they ensure that the license does not discriminate against persons or groups or fields of endeavor." (Golden, 13)..................

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