overview of free/open source software for librarians eric goldhagen [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Overview of Free/Open Source Software for Librarians
Eric [email protected]
GNU and LINUX
● Richard Stallman– GNU (GNU Not Unix)
● 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
– Linux● Wrote linux kernel in 1991● Linux was released under GPL,
the software license written by Richard Stallman
Important Terms:
● 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)
● 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
● The freedoms associated with F/OSS are protected by software licenses
● There are many different licenses for F/OSS– GPL (GNU General Public License)
● Strong copyleft license, all code modifications must be released
– BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)● Permissive and non-copyleft, allows for easier bundling of
f/oss with commercial tools. – LGPL (GNU Lesser GPL)
● 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 Librarians Care About Software Licenses?
● Discussions of software license, fair useand 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
Radical Reference: ToolsDrupal for Website
● Content Management System– Provides web interface to create, modify and otherwise
maintain content on the website● Modular and extensible
– Over 200 code modules exist to add features and content types to the system
● 100% Free / released under GPL– LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, [php | python | perl])
● Large international development community– Over 1000 developers over the past 5 years have added
code– Over 200 developers have added code in the past 6
months● Download and find out more at http://drupal.org
Radical Reference: Tools Lightningbug for Reference
● GPL / LAMP● Developed for the counterconvention.org site ● Designed to facilitate collaboration in vetting site content● Modified to work in the context of
answering reference questions● Some of those changes were added to the distributed
code● Small development community
– Very responsive to users of system– Code under active development with fixes and new
features being added on a regular basis● Available at http://lightningbug.sourceforge.net/
Summary
● 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.
What FLOSS to Use?
Type of Software Proprietary F/OSSWeb Browser Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox; Opera
Word processing Microfoft Word Open Office Writer
Presentations Microsoft PowerPoint Open Office Impress
Spreadsheets Microsoft Excel Open Office Calc
Database Oracle; ms sql server MySQL PostgreSQL
Graphics editing Adobe Photoshop GIMP
Desktop Publishing Quark Xpress Scribus
Instant Messaging AIM GAIM
Finances Quicken GnuCash; TurboCash
PDF Creation Adobe Acrobat PDF Creator; Ghostscript
Audio Editing ProTools Audacity
Flowcharting Visio Dia
Vector Graphics Adobe Illustrator Sodipodi
Email client Outlook Thunderbird; kMail
Filling in the Blanks
● 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
– 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– Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net – Freshmeat http://freshmeat.net
On line Resources for More Information on the Topics Covered
Credits
● Presentation created with Open Office 1.1
● Created using a salvaged computer running Debian 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