FOSS, history and philosophy

Introduction to FOSS

By:
Ahmed Mekkawy AKA linuxawy
ahmed@linuxawy.org

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
8,000,000 1,600,000

7,000,000 1,400,000

6,000,000 1,200,000
Lines of Code
Users
5,000,000 1,000,000

4,000,000 800,000

3,000,000 600,000

2,000,000 400,000

1,000,000 200,000

0 0
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 (ver
(ver0.01) (ver0.96) (ver0.99) (ver1.0) (ver1.2) (ver2.0) (ver2.1) 2.1.11)

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 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.

FOSS, history and philosophy

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