Why Free Software?

Presented by Larry Garfield (@Crell)

Quotes for OSS being great But... why? What is OSS? (Brief definition) Mention Free Software, and differences Economic * Selling software isn't your business * Share the load * Quality over polish * "Commercial software syndrome" (cf Content Management book) * Early adopters of betas help find bugs * "Take your business elsewhere" (Serena Collage, XFree86/Xorg) * No licensing; not for cost, but for simplicity * Who do I sue? No one, your EULA prevents you anyway. Security * plenty of good and bad OSS and proprietary * Chris Messina: Popular OSS tends to be secure because insecure OSS tends to get unpopular fast. * Can inspect it: Safety against malicious code * "OSS isn't more secure. OSS is more auditable, which makes it secure in the long run." * Not just code, but process. Varies widely. (Drupal is excellent.) Mention Kalamuna (or whoever they were?) * https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/08/how-governments-are-using-spyware-to-attack-free-speech/ Ethical * Free Software: Software you can't control, controls you * Ppl have a right to digital self-sovereignty * Government: People already own government, and its output. Wrong to hide from them. * "Public good" Get involved * "If you're not paying for it, you are the product" * In OSS, you're paying by giving the dev karma/street cred * No other relationship, unless you pay for it * Unethical to exploit. * Pay for good OSS * Actually audit it. (This can be expensive) * Have a say. No investment, no say. Conclusion * Open Source is only as awesome as the people behind it * Open Source isn't a license. It's a culture * Open Source is interactive. You don't matter unless you interact. Lots of sources from: http://open-source.gbdirect.co.uk/migration/benefit.html
Why Free Software? Presented by Larry Garfield (@Crell)