Transcript Free/Open Source Software and Libraries What is Free/Open Source Software? Why Should Librarians Care About Software Licenses? What is the difference between Free Speech and Free Beer? Eric.

Free/Open Source Software
and Libraries
What is Free/Open Source
Software?
Why Should Librarians Care
About Software Licenses?
What is the difference between
Free Speech and Free Beer?
Eric Goldhagen
eric@openflows.
com
GNU and LINUX
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Richard Stallman
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GNU (GNU Not Unix)
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Started writing free software utilities for unix in
1984
Stallman personally wrote an impressive amount
of software
Founded GNU and Free Software Foundation
http://gnu.org http://www.fsf.org
By 1991 GNU created all the elements of a free OS
except a kernel
Linus Torvalis
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Linux
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Wrote linux kernel in 1991
Linux was released under GPL, the software license
written by Richard Stallman
Important Terms:
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Software is written as text (source code)
Software is most often distributed as an
application (binary) that runs in a specific
operating system and type of hardware
(architecture)
Source code is modified (compiled) by
another program (compiler) to create a
binary
Free software and open source are in most
cases equivalent and may be found
abbreviated as FOSS, F/OSS or FLOSS
What Do You Mean Free?
Free as in Speech (always)
Free as in Beer (sometimes)
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Free to read source code and evaluate it
for security and other reasons
Free to modify source code
for your own use
Free to distribute your modifications
Free to anyone for any use
More extensive definition at
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
Freedom Backed by License
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The freedoms associated with F/OSS are
protected by software licenses
There are many different licenses for F/OSS
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GPL (GNU General Public License)
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BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)
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Permissive and non-copyleft, allows for easier
bundling of f/oss with commercial tools.
LGPL (GNU Lesser GPL)
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Strong copyleft license, all code modifications must
be released
Compromise between GPL and BSD-like licenses. Not
a strong copyleft license, because it permits linking
with non-free modules.
See http://fsf.org for full list of
free/open source licenses
Why Should Libraries Care About
Software Licenses?
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Discussions of software license, fair use
and copyright overlap
Creative Commons License for content
is an outgrowth of F/OSS
End User License Agreements (EULA's) limit
rights
Free/open source licenses protect
freedom and rights
You never own commercial software
Public access can be restricted by EULA's
Software licenses are a drain on limited library
budgets
Knowledge as information vs. knowledge as
property
Benefits of Using F/OSS
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Collaboration with other groups
Tools designed with you in mind
Localization of Economy
Sharing of resources with other groups
Seeing a connection between services
provided at libraries and the tools used
to facilitate those services
Open Standards
No vendor lock-in
Before you jump...
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Understand that there is a difference
between buying a product from a vendor
and hiring a group to modify/customize
F/OSS
Think about process not product
Treat your F/OSS team like partners not
vendors
Make a wishlist, not an RFP
Take time to evaluate tools before
implementing
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active community
frequent patches
response to non-developers
What FLOSS to Use?
Ty pe of Sof t w a re Proprie t a ry
F/OSS
Web Browser
Int ernet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox; Opera
Word processing
Microfoft Word
Open Office Writ er
Present at ions
Microsoft PowerPoint
Open Office Im press
Spreadsheet s
Microsoft Excel
Open Office Calc
Dat abase
Oracle; m s sql server
MySQL Post greSQL
Graphics edit ing
Adobe Phot oshop
GIMP
Deskt op Publishing
Quark Xpress
Scribus
Inst ant Messaging
AIM
GAIM
Finances
Quicken
GnuCash; TurboCash
PDF Creat ion
Adobe Acrobat
PDF Creat or; Ghost script
Audio Edit ing
ProTools
Audacit y
Flowchart ing
Visio
Dia
Vect or Graphics
Adobe Illust rat or
Sodipodi
Em ail client
Out look
Thunderbird; kMail
Tools: CMS's
Content Management
Systems
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Allows for easy access to add
content/pages and edit existing content
Can allow for tracking changes to content
over time
Allow different users/groups to have
different information within one site
Many CMS's also allow for community
interaction/comments/blogs
Examples of popular F/OSS CMS's
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Drupal; Joomla; Slashcode; Bricolage; Plone
Working example: http://
Tools: BugTracking
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Allows for input of problems with a site or
project
Sorting by priority and severity of
problems
Ability to assign and track progress
Common tools
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Bugzilla
Mantis
Tools: Project and Task
Management
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Similar in concept to bugtracking but
designed for project management and
non-technical use
Ability to track all tasks for a project
Users get tasks and deadlines assigned
and log hours and progress
Reminders for deadlines and overdue
tasks
Common Tools
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WebCollab
NetOffice
dotProject
Tools: Constituent and Donor
Management (CRM)
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Allows for tracking organizational contact
with members and donors
Available tools
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CiviCRM
Ebase
SugarCRM
Tools: Wiki
for collaborative authoring
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Wikis differ from other types of websites
because they allow for freeform editing of
all content
Best suited for collaborative authoring of
documents like software manuals or
organizational policies
What wikis do people use
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MediaWiki
Twiki
PhpWiki
Moin moin
Tools: Blogs
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Blogs allow for an easy way of involving a
community in a site
Can be a single author or group
Blogs tend to be personal or opinion
rather than informational
Blog your experiences and lessons learned
so others can gain from what you
discovered. (also search your error
messages or problems to find such
content)
Tools: Tagging and shared
content sites
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Allows for freeform assigning of tags or
keywords to any content
Sharable via web for others to see what
you found and tagged
Used in conjunction with sites that are
user created content
Tagging sites
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Delicious
Tagzania
Flickr
Summary
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Software licenses/EULA's restrict fair-use
Commercial software is never owned, but
leased
Commercial software is guided by the desires
of the marketing department; F/OSS is guided
by the needs of the users and the whims of
the programmers
F/OSS creates a dynamic where collectivity and
competition are not mutually exclusive
concepts
F/OSS creates a culture where contribution and
participation are valued over ownership.
Filling in the Blanks
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On line Resources for More Information
on the Topics Covered
Free Software Foundation http://fsf.org
GNU http://gnu.org
Open Source Initiative
http://www.opensource.org
NOSI (Nonprofit Open Source Initiative)
http://nosi.net
Linux distributions
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Debian http://debian.org
Redhat http://redhat.com Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com
Ubuntu http://ubunto.com
Gnoppix http://gnoppix.org
Where to find f/oss
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Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net
Freshmeat http://freshmeat.net
Credits
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Presentation created with Open Office 1.1, updated
with Open Office 2.0, most recent update with
NeoOffice2
Created using a salvaged computer running Debian
LINUX; modified on a mac running Ubuntu LINUX
Presentation theme distributed free with
Open Office 1.1
On line sources used for this presentation are all
listed on the “Filling in the blanks” page
This presentation covered by the Creative