Taking Advantage of Free Software

Shane Hathaway
May 2002

There is a new trend in the software industry that is great news for both consumers and software producers. The "Free Software Movement", started almost two decades ago, is now getting notable attention outside the software development community. Free software gives users the freedom to use, share, refine, and learn from the software they acquire. The time has come for consumers to take advantage of the great pool of work done by free software developers worldwide working toward the common good.

The Free Software Foundation defines the term "free software" as a matter of liberty rather than price. As the foundation explains, "Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software." It goes on, "A program is free software if users have all of these freedoms. Thus, you should be free to redistribute copies, either with or without modifications, either gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to anyone anywhere. Being free to do these things means (among other things) that you do not have to ask or pay for permission." ("The Free Software Definition")

Although free software is most often distributed for no charge, that is not the primary goal. Free software aims to give users the same freedoms the software producers have. Free software is always distributed along with the text that makes up the program, known as the "source code", and a software license that specifically grants the user the right to run, examine, modify, and redistribute the program. The only freedom not given to consumers of free software is the right to redistribute with extra restrictions. In other words, once a program is free software, no one can legally make it non-free, even by making changes and redistributing the changes.

This philosophy is in direct opposition with the business model of most proprietary software companies, notably including Microsoft Corporation. "Proprietary software" is the term used in the free software community to refer to software that cannot be redistributed and for which source code is not available. There is a hot debate in the technology community over the viability of free software as a business model. But some companies are proving it can work.

Digital Creations, now Zope Corporation, is one company that has taken on the whole free software philosophy. In 1999, the company started distributing its main product, ZOPE (short for "Z Object Publishing Environment"), under an open source license. Open source is another term often applied to free software. "Since going open source, the company has received at least 100 unsolicited requests for it to bid on contracts", said Hadar Pedhazur, chairman of the board for Zope Corporation, referring to contracts for Zope product support services. "Digital Creations doesn't have a sales force -- customers come to us." (Martin)

The Meta Group in Stamford, Connecticut believes that open source software is especially taking hold among corporate software developers. Their research shows that open source software is becoming standard for building commercial programs. Commercial software with open source roots gives software developers the opportunity to fix defects they may encounter without having to rely on a vendor. (Waters)

Quality free software has become available through the efforts of companies like Zope Corporation and individuals all over the world. Today there is an equivalent free software solution for most proprietary software packages. Linux replaces Windows, Open Office replaces Microsoft Office, Mozilla replaces Internet Explorer, Zope replaces Vignette, Python replaces Visual Basic, and so on. In fact, the free software equivalents are known to be more stable, reliable, and secure than their proprietary competitors.

One might wonder why everyone is not using free software already. Perhaps it is because free software often takes longer to develop than proprietary software. Others say that free software does not fulfill the right needs. (Lyman) Also, it is not easy to fund the development of free software. In the past, most free software consisted of small utilities used only by computer experts. But in recent years a number of important projects like Linux and OpenOffice have matured and free software has become very usable by the public.

The emergence of widely usable free software has led foreign governments to seek to irradicate proprietary software from state-run computers. In Peru, Congressman David Villanueva Nunez is seeking to pass a bill that would enforce the use of free software in the government. When Microsoft Corporation's branch in Peru caught word of this, a company representative sent a letter to congress denouncing such a bill, saying it would be illegal and economically harmful. But Congressman Villanueva responded in a well-worded letter:

We agree that in the private sector of the economy, it must be the market that decides which products to use, and no state interference is permissible there. However, in the case of the public sector, the reasoning is not the same: as we have already established, the state archives, handles, and transmits information which does not belong to it, but which is entrusted to it by citizens, who have no alternative under the rule of law. As a counterpart to this legal requirement, the State must take extreme measures to safeguard the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of this information. The use of proprietary software raises serious doubts as to whether these requirements can be fulfilled, lacks conclusive evidence in this respect, and so is not suitable for use in the public sector. (Greene)

This is an exciting development. Politicians realize how dangerous it is to keep government data in a format they cannot access except through proprietary tools sold to them by the United States. There is a growing threat of "spyware", software which secretly transmits private information back to the software producer. Government leaders believe the only way to be safe is to use free software.

Brazil is also taking advantage of free software. In May of this year the state of Rio Grande do Sul held the largest free software conference in South America. Even the governor of the state, Olivio Dutra, spoke in support of free software as the best approach for government, education, and business. Foreign markets may be leading the United States in adopting free software, even though the movement started here. (Vernon)

The more people use free software, the better it becomes. Users help software producers discover and correct defects, resolve issues that make the software difficult to use, and sometimes even contribute complete changes directly back to the producer. Users also have more opportunities to get together and help each other use the software.

I hope to see more adoption of free software here in the United States in the near future. We are held back only by a lack of knowledge of the alternatives available today. One day I hope my friends and family use enough free software that when they call on me for assistance, I can quickly fix defects in their software. Today it's not possible because the source code is hidden and locked away. Car manufacturers don't weld hoods shut for fear that you'll steal the design of the car. Software should be equally free.

© 2002 Shane Hathaway

WORKS CITED

1. "The Free Software Definition." Free Software Foundation. 2 May 2002. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

2. Martin, Maurice. "No-Cost Software Can Bring Unexpected Dividends." Washington Business Journal 24 May 1999. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/1999/05/24/focus4.html

3. Waters, John K. "Meta: Make Way For the Open Source Revolution." ADTmag.com 16 May 2002. 101 Communications. http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=6261

4. Lyman, Jay. "If Open Source Is So Great, Why Isn't Everyone Using It?" www.NewsFactor.com 27 November 2001. http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/14965.html

5. Greene, Thomas C. "MS in Peruvian Open Source Nightmare." The Register. 5 May 2002. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25157.html

6. Vernon, Richard. "Forum Internacional do Software Livre." Online posting to the Linux Journal. 16 May 2002. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5931