Open Source Software

Part I. Introduction, history and current development

Basics software terms (only for those who are not familiar with software development):

Source code is defined here. It is written in human-readable programming languages (such as C# and JAVA).
Object code (wiki) and executable code (wiki) are often called "binaries". They are generated from the source code by running a compiler program. They are both machine codes (binaries).
Proprietary software: read this definition.
Open source software: read wiki or this article to get a general idea.

An important figure in this movement is Richard Stallman ("what he thinks of free software" video, "singing free software song" (optional)). He is most well known for establishing the GNU Project (wikipedia or website) and Free Software Foundation (FSF). Browse GNU's policy statement.. Read the definition for "copyleft."

Firefox browser by Mozilla. Read Mozilla's statement of "organic software." Explore the website of Mozilla foundation a little bit.
(Optional) Linux (wiki for "Linux Kernel"), a widely used operating system that is often considered "more stable" than Microsoft Windows.
(Optional) Apache HTTP server (wiki).
Newest addition to the open source community: Google Android for G1 phone - "the first free, open source, and fully customized mobile platform." Android platform is open source. View this youtube video for its features. (Optional) Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmore's comment on G1 and Android.

Open source licenses. Read the first paragraph of its definition from wiki. There are many open source licenses, but GPL licenses are the most widely used.

(Optional) GPL v3. It is newer but untested, although it solves some of the ambiguity problems under GPL v2.

The Federal Circuit recently held open source software license enforceable under copyright law in Jacobsen v. Katzer. Also read this article for a summary and some comments. This is a huge win for the open source community. Do you agree with the court's decision?
A round of litigations have been filed by Software Freedom Law Center, including one against Verizon for violation of GPL license (they settled early this year).
(Optional) Two other lawsuits to watch. Here. Update: One settled and one got a default judgment against the defendant.
The battle between Microsoft and Open source. Microsoft threatened to sue for hundreds of patents allegedly infringed in order to get royalties from FOSS (Free Open Source Software) users. Who do you think should be the winner, Microsoft or Open source?
Read this DLA piper flyer on legal issues of open source licensing. Then read 2007 Top Ten Open Source Legal Issues (note issue no. 5, patent troll! vs. FOSS vendors!) and page 29 to 36 of the book "Legal Issues Relating to Open Source And Free Software" (pdf). Be prepared to discuss your take on at least one issue that interests you most.
The post-GPLv3 legal battle is predicted in this article. Are you worried about the prospects for those aspiring but unscrupulous startup companies?

It has been estimated that open source caused proprietary software companies to lose $60 billion annually, which is 6% of the whole IT budget, according to this report. Do you think open source damages the software industry? Is it a viable business model? Will the public gain more from having the source code disclosed and reused than otherwise?
Should software patents be open source? It could be argued that the written description and best mode requirements require disclosure of source code for a software patent. Read this law review article and see if it makes sense.
A debate on whether vendors are vital to open source. This post thinks so, and this one thinks not. What's your view?
Obama likes open source. Read this article. Some people say open source is the Barrack Obama of IT. Do you agree or disagree?

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