From 674a0097091e2ef829330a563c8d71ec9fef7484 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: jrtechs Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2020 19:53:44 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Started draft for FOSS vs FLOSS article --- .../posts/open-source/foss-vs-floss.md | 47 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blogContent/posts/open-source/foss-vs-floss.md diff --git a/blogContent/posts/open-source/foss-vs-floss.md b/blogContent/posts/open-source/foss-vs-floss.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a3a818 --- /dev/null +++ b/blogContent/posts/open-source/foss-vs-floss.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +Last week for HFOSS(Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software IGME-582) at RIT I +was introduced to three articles that pick apart the differences between +"Free Software" and "Open Source Software" or "FOSS" and "FLOSS". + +- [How I coined the term 'open source' by Christine Peterson](https://opensource.com/article/18/2/coining-term-open-source-software) +- [When Free Software Isn't (Practically) Superior by Benjamin Mako Hill](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/when-free-software-isnt-practically-superior.html) +- [Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software by Richard Stallman](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html) + +Peterson's article discussed how she ended up coining the term Open Source and how +that term ended up becoming widely used. She explained that Open Source software +was a new word for Free Software that was used instead because it would be more +friendly with businesses. At that time(and still to this point) Free software is +confused with software that you can get at no cost. Free Software is really free +as in speech rather than free as in beer. Peterson's phrase "Open Source" +gained a foot hold with larger communities and businesses because it focused on +the practical benefits of doing software development in a public manner. Open Source +software focused on collaboration and how building software in the public could +improve security -- this really enticed businesses. To this day we see that +businesses like Microsoft latch on to the phrase Open Source. + +//todo image of microsoft hearts open source + +With this divide in phrasing, there was a ideological split as well. People like +Stallman in the Free Software camp felt like the Open Source movement lacks integrity +because they don't focus on Freedom like they do. In his article "Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software", +Stallman scarfs at the fact that some open source Linux distributions would offer the option +to package proprietary(non-free) software. + + +In Hill's article he echoes the views of Stallman's article, however, he points out +that in practice Free Software isn't doing "better" than Open Source Software. +The median number of contributors to a SourceForge free software project is one. +The large success of Open Source Software is large in due to the fact that it is +able to draw in more developers and retain financial support from companies. + +Despite the large overlap between Open Source software and Free Software, there +are a few key distinctions. At a high level you can say that Free Software favors freedom, +however, that is putting it in a very vague notion that can be interpreted in many ways. +You could also put it in terms of the four R's of Free Software: + +- Read +- Run +- Repurpose +- Redistribute + +However, I like to analyze the differences between FOSS and FLOSS by looking at license types +that they use.