The document discusses the advantages of using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for healthcare. Some key advantages include improved security as more people can test for flaws, customizability as users can modify the code to suit their needs, and reduced costs compared to proprietary software which has purchase prices and ongoing fees. FOSS is also better at adhering to open standards and offers more freedom and support options through developer communities. Common FOSS licenses like the GNU General Public License allow free use, modification and redistribution of the software.

1. FOSS
(Free and Open Source Software)
for Health Care
Dr.Lasatha Ranwala (MBBS, MSc-Biomedical Informatics)
MO-Health Information
RDHS Office Colombo

2. Software
“Computer software is a collection of computer
programs and related data that provides the
instructions for telling a computer what to do
and how to do it”.

3. Software- Front end

4. Software- Back end

5. source code
“any collection of computer instructions
written using some human
readable computer language, usually as text”.

6. Proprietary software
VS Open Source Software

7. Proprietary software
• computer software licensed under exclusive
legal right of the copyright holder.
• The license is given the right to use the
software under certain conditions, while
restricted from other uses, such as
modification, further distribution,

8. Open Source software
• computer software that is available in source
code form.
• certain other rights Usage modification
and redistribution of open source software.
• very often developed in a public,
• collaborative manner

9. Proprietary software
VS Open Source Software
•Windos 7 • Ubuntu
•MS Office • Libro Office
•PhotoShop • Gimp Photo
•Winzip • 7zip

10. Advantages of FOSS
• 1. Security
• " What that means is that the more people who
can see and test a set of code, the more likely any
flaws will be caught and fixed quickly.
• 2. Quality
• n general, open source software gets closest to
what users want because those users can have a
hand in making it so. It's not a matter of the
vendor giving users what it thinks they want--
users and developers make what they want, and
they make it well

11. • 3. Customizability
• Along similar lines, business users can take a
piece of open source software and tweak it to
suit their needs. Since the code is open, it's
simply a matter of modifying it to add the
functionality they want. Don't try that with
proprietary software!

12. • 4. Freedom
• vendor lock-in
• vendors are at the mercy of the vendor's
vision, requirements, dictates, prices, prioritie
s and timetable, and that limits

13. • 6. Interoperability
• Open source software is much better at
adhering to open standards than proprietary
software is.

14. • . Support Options
• communities surrounding each piece of
software.
• there are now paid support options on most
open source packages at prices that still fall far
below what most proprietary vendors will
charge.

15. • 9. Cost
• Between the purchase price of the software
itself, the exorbitant cost of mandatory virus
protection, support charges, ongoing upgrade
expenses and the costs associated with being
locked in, proprietary software takes

16. Software licenses
• The licenses for most software are designed to
take away your freedom to share and change it.
By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and
change free software--to make sure the software
is free for all its users.
• GNU General Public License (GPL), which “allows
free distribution under the condition that further
developments and applications are put under the
same licence” – thus also free

17. • author's protection and ours, we want to
make certain that everyone understands that
there is no warranty for this free software. If
the software is modified by someone else and
passed on, we want its recipients to know that
what they have is not the original, so that any
problems introduced by others will not reflect
on the original authors' reputations.

18. • General Public Licenses are designed to make
sure that you have the freedom to distribute
copies of free software (and charge for this
service if you wish), that you receive source
code or can get it if you want it, that you can
change the software or use pieces of it in new
free programs; and that you know you can do
these things.

19. • protect your rights with two steps (1)
copyright the software, and (2) offer you this
license which gives you legal permission to
copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

20. • For example, if you distribute copies of such a
program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must
give the recipients all the rights that you have.
You must make sure that they, too, receive or
can get the source code. And you must show
them these terms so they know their rights.