Seriously Explaining OSS to Normal People?

W. Wayne Liauh LiauhW001 at Hawaii.rr.com
Sun Apr 29 13:41:49 PDT 2001


Don't get offended, George.  :-)

Open source means that you develop the software and I get to use it for free.  Not
only that, you don't even have a right, practically speaking, to your own
intellectual property.  Then, if anything screws up, we all know who to blame,
i.e., YOU!

Open source also means that, unless there is a strong support from the "community"
(which is a very vague term), the program is usually buggy at best, or half-baked
in most circumstances.  And where there is strong community support, there are
almost always turf wars inevitably associated with self interests.

As bad as it may sound, open source, or a modified form thereof, I believe, will
eventually win out.  Computing has become an integral part of our life, and it is
unimaginable that we can continue to allow ourselves to be indentured by a single
company.

Anyway, now that the snow has melted, have a nice trip back to Denver, and look
forward to seeing you back in November.


Wayne



Cyberclops wrote:

> Seriously this time, I think the value in open source is its "sense of
> community."  At is heart is the idea of sharing.  It has more of a
> valuable economic impact for the end user, rather than the creator,
> which in itself is rather unique.  For these reasons alone it seems like
> a logical choice and perfect fit for educational or academic
> enterprise.  The fact that it is usually shipped not only with the
> source code, but the tools for modifying the existing code or developing
> new code, it seems to be the perfect tool for computer science.  The
> fact that it is a viable alternative is valuable in an of itself.  In a
> sense, Linux is similar to the idea of "art for art's sake."   Linux is
> the pure form of computing based on one of the oldest and most stable
> platforms.  More over it is a "multi-user" plat form which is perfect
> for education.  Presently, the Apple Macintosh and the Windows 9x
> systems are essentially single user systems, and are not as well suited
> to classroom use as the Linux operating system.  The fact that the
> teacher and the students can share the same computer without the chance
> of the students accidentally destroying the system is a big plus.  Also
> a separate "log on" for the teacher and the students provides
> confidentiality of sensitive documents such as student grade reports and
> other highly confidential information.  Thus the wide spread adoption of
> Linux would protect the educational system from the danger of litigation
> due to the failure of the present systems to provide proper
> confidentiality.  Finally the fact that licensing of multiple
> installations of the operating system is not requirement, provides an
> extremely strong financial incentive for its acceptance as the operating
> system of choice for educational institutions.  Last but not least, the
> present applications are as good as or better than their equivalents in
> competing platforms.  Moreover, the fact that Linux is open source, it
> has not actually become the default standard for the world wide inter
> operabilty of all computer systems.  If a compete system does not work
> with Linux, it is not a viable operating system.  This is evidenced by
> Apple moving to OS-X which just like Linux, is based on a Unix variant
> kernel.
>
> Warren Togami wrote:
> >
> > This grant came as a total surprise to us, and we have a very limited time
> > to write the grant proposal and submit it.  We're scrambling to create the
> > necessary documentation before the due date...
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jimen Ching" <jching at flex.com>
> > To: "Linux & Unix Advocates & Users" <luau at list.luau.hi.net>
> > Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2001 4:00 PM
> > Subject: [luau] Re: Explaining OSS to Normal People?
> >
> > > If she wants to learn the ways of the free software and open source world,
> > > why not have her attend one of your Linux install fest meetings?  Get
> > > first hand experience.  One thing I learned about free/open source
> > > software is that it is a hands-on domain.  You just can't get the full
> > > benefit by sitting on the side lines.
> > >
> >
> > ---
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