Free + Open Source Goodness

Jamie Tanna (@jamietanna)
Anna Dodson (@anna_hax)

Who are we?

Jamie

Software Quality Engineer @ Capital One
University of Nottingham Computer Science Alumnus '16
Hacksoc co-founder
4th time Hacktoberfest-er

Anna

I did a masters in CS here (I did not do an undergrad in CS)
Joined HackSoc, was one of the organisers of Inspire WiT 2016
My first hackathon was HackNotts
I am now a Software Engineer at Imosphere
I love my job
We use dot net… and a lot of open source tools too

So why is it important?

Tracey the farmer and her tractor that she can't legally self-repair

https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-locking-down-macs-from-repairs/

https://itsfoss.com/linux-better-than-windows/

Open Source

Free Redistribution

no restrictions on selling / giving away, as part of "aggregate software distribution"
no royalty, other fees required

Source Code

Must include source code
Must allow distribution in source as well as compiled form
Can't deliberately obfuscate, provide intermediate forms

Derived Works

allow modifications + derived works
must allow distribution under same terms of original license

Integrity of The Author's Source Code

must allow distribution of software built from modified source code
although it may require different name, version

No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

may not restrict i.e. military, genetic research

Distribution of License

must apply to anyone the program is distributed to

License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

must not depend on being part of a software distribution

License Must Not Restrict Other Software

no restrictions on other software distributed with it

License Must Be Technology-Neutral

Free Software

"this is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of 'free speech,' not 'free beer'"

Definitions via https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html

Freedom 0

The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).

Freedom 1

The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Freedom 2

The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).

Freedom 3

The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.