FOSS, history and philosophy

Introduction to FOSS
By: Ahmed Mekkawy AKA linuxawy [email_address]

What's SFD?
Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

What will we talk about today
Brief history about Free Software movement.
Some Concepts
FOSS in the future
A strategic look

History of GNU
Richard Stallman (RMS)
A printer driver ??
What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix :)
A project to stop companies monopoly of our computers.

Linux
Linus Trovalds, the finnish guy.
Freax? No thanks, linux is better :)
Initially a terminal emulator, then a kernel.
Tux, the official mascot.

GNU/Linux evolution in the first 8 years

Examples of FOSS
OS: GNU/Linux
Programming languages: C/C++, Ocaml, PHP, Python, Ruby, Lua, .. etc
Servers: Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, .. etc
End user applications: Firefox, OpenOffice.Org, VLC medial player, … etc

FOSS is not only in Software
Wikipedia.org
OSWD.org (OpenSource Web Designs)
OpenCores.org (hardware)
Open Cola
Open Data ( scientific data)
ChemCollective.org

Quote
You can’t better the world by simply talking to it. Philosophy to be effective must be mechanically applied.
Buckminster Fuller

Some Concepts
Unix
BSD
GNU tools
Linux kernel
GNU/Linux
GNU OS (GNU/Hurd, Debian GNU/Hurd)
Debian GNU/kFreeBSD

Philosophy
“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.”
Open Source is a development methodology; Free Software is a social movement.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/

4 Freedoms
The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Licensing
Copyleft.
GPL: grants the 4 freedoms, with other stuff too.
CreativeCommons: where GPL can't be used.
Others: BSD license, Apache license, … etc.

GNU/Linux Distributions
It's an OS built based on Linux using GNU tools and lots of other FOSS projects.
Most famous ones currently are:
Debian
Ubuntu
RHEL (RedHat) / CentOS
Fedora
Currently active arabic distro is Ojuba and Joatha, the discontinued ones are alot, though.

FOSS Community & LUG
If you didn't get it yet, free software can't be made with individuals, it needs a big community as it's based on code contributions.
Public recognition in such communities is a big motive for lots of people.
LUGs are local communities centered about FOSS, like EGLUG.org (Egypt GNU/Linux Users Group).

FOSS communities in the Egypt
Linux Egypt
EGLUG.org
LinuxAC.org
Ubuntu Egypt
OSUM
FSF arabia, will it happen someday?

Quote
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
Buckminster Fuller

Future of FOSS
PCs:
GNU/Linux is gaining ground, rising quickly in usability in the last few years (which mainly was its drawback).
Companies jumped in (Google Chrome OS).
Embedded systems:
Gaining ground as currently writing an OS especially for an embedded system is not worth it in most of cases, simply install linux in lots of current systems.
Mobile devices:
The next (or current?) hype for linux. Android is linux based. But Maemo/Meego is the really interesting thing: Linux+GNU+Debian stack+X+Gnome+QT

Quote
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi

A Strategic look
Our country is low on financial resources, which doesn't give us lots of fields to success at.
If we look at the software field without the FOSS, it's already dominated by big players. We can't compete with them cause we don't know the know-how of operating systems, database engines, .. etc. All we can do is some websites and somethings like that, but we can't touch the core technologies.

A Strategic look (Cont'd)
FOSS gives us the knowledge, and IT doesn't mainly rely on big finance.
If we tried to work with proprietary software, we will be salesmen for the big players (For example who creates a website using .net and SQL server, forces his client to buy these licenses).
The know-how gives us the ability to enhance the current solutions and even create our own. So we won't be limited to waiting for new releases of proprietary software.
We shouldn't be controlled by a certain company/entity.

What's in it for me?
End user: better and cheaper software.
Developer: very big learning resource, and technologies in continuous development.
An enterpruneur / business guy: dramatically lower costs, having better customization, more easy to create your own product or provide your services.

Bottom Line
You got freedoms, it's your right. Use them, and ask for them.
You can help, so please contribute.
Free Software is a social movement, it's an idea you can apply within your life outside the software prespective.

To know more
http://www.gnu.org
http://fsf.org
http://eglug.org
Revolution OS: the movie.

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FOSS, history and philosophy

by Ahmed Mekkawy

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