Why Free Software?
Larry Garfield
@Crell
- Director of DX, Platform.sh
- PHP-FIG Core Committee
implements Huggable
Why?
What is Open Source, anyway?
Free Software, 1984
Richard Stallman, 2015
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Free Software Definition
- The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
Use, Learn, Improve, Share
Free Software Foundation, 1985
GNU's Not Unix
"Open Source", late 90s
So what is Free Software?
- Use is unrestricted
- Respects your sovereignty and independence
- Collaboration is encouraged
Benefits of Free Software
- Ethical
- Economic
- Security
Ethical benefits
»Why would anyone pay programmers to work on free software?«
— ❦ (@daniel_bohrer) January 1, 2017
»I don't understand. Why would anyone pay workers to build public roads?«
Economic benefits
What is your business?
Tip: It's probably not software
Author, The Mythical Man-Month
The way to be more productive is to write less code
The way to be more productive is to share more code
Per-item licensing restricts
development options
What motivates developers?
Open Source Syndrome
Commercial Software Syndrome
"Take your business elsewhere"
But who will I sue?
You didn't read your EULA...
But who will I call at 2 am?
Whoever you're paying to be awake at 2 am.
Security benefits
The Hall of Tortured Souls
Source: Sean Gallagher, "NSA Gets Early Access to Zero-Day Data from Microsoft, Others," 14 June 2013
Anyone can audit the code;
not everyone does.
Diffusion of Responsibility
Fix your own bugs malicious code
Security is a process, not a product
Case study: Kaltura module (c. 2010)
Fight Diffusion of Responsibility
If you're not paying for it, you are the product.
If you're not paying for it, you don't matter.
("Pay" doesn't always mean money)
Free Software is a Gift Economy
Developer time
Time is the currency of Free Software
- Review more code than you write!
- Fix more bugs than you add features!
Help with more than just code
Documentation
Usability/UX
Graphic design
Web site
Events
Engage the developer
Many maintainers are freelancers
Use XDebug?
Hire the/a developer
This does not give you absolute control!
If it's business critical, you need full time staff.
Pay for an audit
Be invested
Free Software is not about getting cheap stuff
Free Software isn't a license, it's a culture
Participation culture, not Permission culture
Free Software is interactive
If you don't interact, you don't matter
Pay It Forward
Free Software is only as
awesome as you are
Larry Garfield
Director of Developer Experience, Platform.sh
Continuous Deployment Cloud Hosting
Stalk us at @PlatformSH