Why Open Source?

When I tell people I'm an Open Source enthusiast I get the same basic questions every time. This past week I went through this with someone and thought, hey that would be a good blog post. Since, I have already done one post on Linux and Android. The following is nothing more then the questions I always get and my answers to them.

What is Open Source?

Anyone that is from the US or familiar with our laws should be able to understand this by equating Open Source with the 1st Amendment. Let me clarify. The First Amendment is what gives US citizens freedom of speech. Open Source software is freedom to use and modify with no charge or penalties. Without infringing on patents or any other intellectual property rights. Let me use Linux as an example. Linus Torvalds wanted a version of UNIX for his home computer. Since he didn't have the money at the time he made his own using none of the original code in UNIX. Shared it free of charge to some people on the Internet basically with the only restriction they could not sell it. Since then Linux and Open Source has grow by huge numbers. Lots of professional and armature software developers have came together donating their time and work to anyone in the world that would like to use it. There has been a lot of companies that donate a portion of their workforce of developers to help support the projects.

Does it work?

Well, that would have to be a huge resounding YES! Linux and most other open source projects have proven to be more stable, more secure, and in many cases simpler to use.

Is Open Source safe?

Closed source software is maintained and updated by one company. They must fix security issues, code new features, and keep within a limited budget of time and money. Open Source on the other hand could have the entire world fixing security issues and everything else. Another benefit is that fact that spyware, viruses, and any other crappy things software could be is normally found right away. Since the source code is open to the public anyone could look at the code and see what is going on. What the software is doing with your information and what it's doing to your system. Anyone trying to do anything unscrupulous is found out rather quickly. This little fact has basically prevented most attempts to get anything into the software that wouldn't be agreeable to the community. One major point is there has never been a Linux compatible virus in the wild. Windows has the most and Mac comes in with a few minor ones but nothing that has been a big deal. Security patches are released much faster in the Open Source arena than any where else.

Instead of me just bragging why don't you down load a live version of Linux and check it out for yourself? The live versions boot from a CD/DVD and never touch the hard drive unless you tell it to install. So it's completely safe to try and will not harm your computer in any way. You can check out how you like it and realize it's about 20 times faster once it's installed.

I mean really, why would you take my word for it? I'm just a geek named rug, but that's what I think.

Comments

  1. Captain StumpySeptember 10, 2013 at 10:25 PM

    hey, didn't they just decide to put Linux in the space station for exactly the reasons you stated... plus the availability of open source allows them to write special programs that are specific to the nature of experiments, right? something like that...
    good article... think I might actually give it a go in the near future... gotta get my laptop running again, why not Linux it? windows is just giving me headaches.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rugSeptember 10, 2013 at 10:32 PM

    I don't know about the space station but that would make perfect sense. The special programs for experiments is right on the money. A lot of scientific models are ran on Linux just for that reason. Check the live version on your laptop first. If that works correctly then when you install it you shouldn't have any issues. The version I linked to in the post is one of the easiest to use. Some versions can be rather complicated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rugSeptember 10, 2013 at 10:33 PM

      Oh, and don't for get to back up your data before you install. :)

      Delete
    2. Captain StumpySeptember 11, 2013 at 1:01 AM

      roger that... I will dig it out this week or next...

      I read the UK article first, I think it was the Telegraph.... I don't remember, but here are some links that I found on the space station going Linux... I thought there was a phys.org article too, or maybe it was AAAS? I will look...

      http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/155392-international-space-station-switches-from-windows-to-linux-for-improved-reliability

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10049444/International-Space-Station-to-boldly-go-with-Linux-over-Windows.html

      http://www.zdnet.com/to-the-space-station-and-beyond-with-linux-7000014958/

      Delete

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