Introduction to Open Source

Over the last few years, the concept of openness has been spreading its wings far and wide in many guises. Much of it started with the popularity of the Free and open source software movement. Its popularity in India rose due to sudden economic downturn, creating demand for open source tremendously and forcing every large corporation to acknowledge its influence and in some cases adopt its methods. The Influence of open source has become so high, it has started penetrating into legislative bodies of many countries, creating pressure at level of policies, guidelines, etc, to support and adopt open source wherever possible. The success of open source has made many countries to take explicit steps to nurture a open source ecosystem, by training programs, certifications, resource centres, and so on.

Its ubiquity has lead to more questions than answers. Few common questions asked are:

• What is open source?
• Why use open-source software?
• Why not to use open source?
• Different Ways software companies can make revenue by using open
source?
• What about the desktop?
• Can I sell open source-based products?
• Open Source Institution
• List of Free and open source Educational Software.
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What is open source?

Open Source is essentially a cousin of the Free and open source software Movement, dating back to Richard M.Stallman’s days at MIT, it gathered popularity only on the arrival of the Linux Kernal from Linus Torvalds in the early 90’s.
The main purpose of a free software movement by Richard Stallman was to promote the free distribution of software unfettered by standard proprietary code restrictions. Free software's rules are codified by the General Public License (GPL), which as of October 2006 was under review for its third revision.

There are literally dozens of Open Source Initiative certified licenses, each with its own peculiar rules that require close examination by any company looking to use open-source software. These rules are usually quite generous for anyone who merely wishes to use open source software. The requirements for redistribution, however, can require careful scrutiny to avoid potential license violation issues.

“Open source usually refers to software that is released with source code under a license that ensures that derivative works will also be available as source code, protects certain rights of the original authors, and prohibits restrictions on how the software can be used or who can use it”.

Open Source in simple words means choice and freedom. The Four freedoms of open source are
• The freedom to run the program for any purpose
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs
• The freedom to redistribute copies
• The freedom to improve the program
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Why use open-source software?

Key reasons for demand of open source software anyone can understand: It’s Cheap, It’s open, and it’s a software for everyone. More importantly the open source model’s return on investment is outstanding; the simple fact is that it delivers the goods at an affordable price.

Software from open source can be sold or freely given away; the users can have access to the source codes of the software where revision of the codes is permissible, as long as the modified version is indicated to be modified by another user. No one is excluded from the open source resources even if a little money is involved to keep a “company” alive as long as the rights apply to everyone who uses the program(s).

Since the IT is fast moving towards cost-effective solution for their business needs the demand for open-source has raised tremendously. Also when the time required to deliver a product is less the need to incorporate re-usable components becomes a must. The reusable components are available as plug in modules which can be incorporated in a desired project.

A world without open source is a world without freedom.
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Why not to use open source?
There aren’t really any good reasons not to use open source, but few obsolete arguments include the following:

Free software really isn't free: Yes, you do need to train users on it; you may very well need a support contract for it, but so what? What software doesn't require training and some support? With open-source, at least you have the option, by either hiring experienced IT staffers or training them up yourself of having software that requires annual service contracts and costly mandatory , whether you need or want them or not.
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Can I get support for it?

In open-source's early days that could be an issue. Today, if you need support, your open-source 'vendor' is likely to be your big-name vendor. Dell, HP, IBM, Oracle, you get the idea. For mainstream open-source applications it's simply not an issue.
That said, if you want to rely on more cutting edge, open-source applications, then you may run into support problems. But, the same thing is true of relying on any cutting edge software.

Possible open source legal troubles. If you're not in software development, this isn't a concern. Do you worry about what might happen to your office copies of Windows when Microsoft loses another lawsuit? I doubt it. Microsoft keeps going on, and except, for an increase in a licensing fee, or Internet Explorer no longer being included by default in the next version of Windows, you'll never notice the difference. The same thing is true of open-source products.

If you're in the programming business then you do need to know your way around open-source licenses, A competent IP (intellectual property) is all you need to steer clear of any potential problems.
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Different Ways software companies can make revenue by using open source?

As awareness of technology has grown, the organizations tend to demand a measurable Return on investment (ROI). Open source software has always been a good option to provide effective solutions within relatively low budgets. Not surprisingly, a number of organizations have started adopting open source software solutions; this trend has risen by ongoing recession, with companies looking for cost cutting measures.
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But how do open source software companies make big bucks?

There are variety of business models to generate revenues from open source software:

• Releasing Commercial Extensions/ Plug-ins to open source.
• Offering free community-based editions and paid commercial
editions with more functionality and features.
• Using free and open source to gain media attention, and attract
users who might become potential customers for other commercial
products.
• Offering paid technical support along with free community- based
support.
• Making software available via the internet like on demand
applications, and offering paid subscriptions for online accounts
and services.

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What about the desktop?

Despite endless security problems, high prices, and Vista falling flat on its face, Windows is still the dominant desktop operating system.
You can, however, opt to give desktop Linux a try. Anything you might have heard about desktop Linux requiring you to be a technical wizard with the command line, aka the shell, to get any work is pure Microsoft fabrication. Desktop Linux no more requires you to be a techie than Windows XP or Mac OX X does. Everything and anything you can do on a Windows desktop you can do without a lick more trouble on a Linux desktop.
Unlike Windows Vista and Windows 7, where you're faced with a multitude of choices which really boils down the more money you pay, the more access you get to the operating system's features, the Linux desktop offers you essentially the same functionality no matter which one you pick. That said, with multiple Linux distributions and desktop interface, picking a desktop Linux can can be quite confusing.

For starters there are three different popular Linux desktop interfaces: the older KDE 3.5.x series; KDE 4.x; and GNOME 2.x. The short version of the differences between them is that KDE 3.5x looks and acts a fair amount like the Windows XP interface. KDE 4 feels more like Vista's Aero interface without that front-end's notoriously poor performance. GNOME comes closer in feel to Mac OS X Tiger. These interfaces are available on most desktop Linux distributions.

As you may know there are dozens of different Linux desktop distributions. For business purposes, this boils down though to the Debian/Ubuntu family of desktops, which are quite popular and Novell's openSUSE and SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop).

The Debian/Ubuntu family, which includes Mepis, Mint, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu, distributions have some commercial and a great deal of community support. If your office already has some Linux-smart IT administrators, these are all fine choices. SLED has the strongest desktop support from both hardware and software vendors. If you want a desktop Linux with "one throat to choke" support, SLED through a vendor like HP, is your best choice.

You may have noticed that Red Hat is missing from this list. That's because Red Hat's focus is on the server, not the desktop. While Fedora, Red Hat's community Linux, makes a fine desktop, neither the company, nor the Fedora community, support it for business use. This makes Fedora a viable business desktop choice only for offices that already have high-levels of in-house Linux expertise.

Oh course, you can keep your Windows and use open-source software too. Firefox and OpenOffice have already been mentioned, but there's little in the way of software that you're already using that can't be replaced with a free, open-source program. For example, are you locked in with Quicken and its forced upgrade path or the recently deceased Microsoft Money? Then, consider trying GnuCash, which has most of their features and can import the data from either one.
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Can I sell open source-based products?

Yes, of course, you can. Companies from IBM on down to one-person shops do it every day. What's different from traditional proprietary software sales is that you have to let your customers get access to the source code. How much access depends on the exact license.
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Open Source Institution

The rise in importance and widespread use of open source has resulted in the creation of several sorts of institutions that seek to play various roles. The institutions may seek to promote a specific project or practice, or to be certifiers, or to promote a philosophy or an approach to open source.

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List of Free and open source Educational Software

Application - Purpose

Euler - Complex numbers and matrics
Kstars - Astronomy with over 1.3 lakh stars, all planets, etc.
Chemlab - Chemistry lab
Sage - Algebra, geometry, etc
Units - Unit conversion
Earth3D - Real-time 3D view of earth
Kalzium - Periodic table and properties of elements
Atomix - Puzzle game for physics
Kig - High precision geometric constructions
Xaos - Fractal geometry

Regards,
Gfoxlabs Team
Email: info@gfoxlabs.com
Website: www.gfoxlabs.com