Open Source VS. Proprietary software : Open Source VS. Proprietary software By Sean Perez “Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can. “
-Richard Stallman (founder of Free Software Movement)
Topics for discussion : Topics for discussion Free Software Movement
Proprietary Software and its ethics
Open Source and its perspectives from an ethical stand point
Legislation on free software
Microsoft “monopoly”
Proprietary programs and their Open Source counterparts
Criticisms for both
File Sharing
DRM
My Opinion
Free Software Movement : Free Software Movement *What is the FSM?
*1985 - Free Software Foundation founded by Robert Stallman
*GNU Manifesto
*Philosophy of FSM – “freedom to computer users by replacing proprietary software under restrictive licensing terms with free software, with the ultimate goal of liberating everyone in cyberspace“
*Rejects proprietary software, refusing to install software that does not give them the freedoms of free software
*Open Source Initiative (Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens)
*Linus Benedict Torvalds (Linux Kernel) Stallman
What is free software? : What is free software? freedom to run the program
freedom to access the code
freedom to redistribute the program to anyone
freedom to improve the software “Free refers to the freedom that the user has with the ability to use, distribute, study, and modify the software, rather than the price of the software”
Ethical Perspectives on Open Source : Ethical Perspectives on Open Source Fairness
Utilitarian
The common good
Virtue
Rights
The ethics of Proprietary : The ethics of Proprietary Honesty
Respect
Confidentiality
Professionalism
Responsibility
Communication
Obeying the law
Microsoft Monopoly : Microsoft Monopoly 1991 - Federal Trade Commission begins inquiries
1993 – FTC investigation deadlocked, and dropped
1994 – Microsoft settles after Department of Justice investigates on the company's withholding of features and restrictions (i.e. Internet Explorer)
1998 - DOJ brings charges of illegally thwarting competition in order to protect and extend its software monopoly
Bill gates described as "evasive and nonresponsive“ during session interview (see picture)
2000 – Judge issued a two-part ruling: his conclusions of law were that Microsoft had committed monopolization, attempted monopolization, and tying in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, and his remedy was that Microsoft must be broken into two separate units, one to produce the operating system, and one to produce other software components.
Appeal granted and Microsoft not to be broken up
2001 – Microsoft settles
Slide 8 :
Software Counterparts : Software Counterparts *Operating Systems (Windows, Unix (Linux), Mac OSX)
*Internet (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox)
*Office Suites (MS Office, Open Office, iWork)
*Email Clients (Outlook, Thunderbird)
*Media Players (Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Winamp, Amarok)
*Media (MP3, MP4, WMA, FLAC)
Legislation on Open Source : Legislation on Open Source USA
Norway
France
Brazil
Venezuela
Peru
Australia
*Open Source is becoming popular in 3rd world countries government agencies because of the lack of cost and ability to change the source code
Criticisms of Open Source : Criticisms of Open Source Security issues
Loss of jobs
Weakening of software industry as a whole
Failure to recognize “intellectual property”
Is it really free? …patches ,support , etc. can actually be more expensive down the line
The rise of internet piracy
Is free anti-American?
Criticisms of Proprietary : Criticisms of Proprietary Increasing price tag
Inability to change the code creates problems with organizations need for certain tasks
Errors that could take a significant amount of time to correct (via updates)
Privacy issues
Security vulnerabilities
File Sharing : File Sharing Is the use of Open Source software destroying the Music/Film Industry? Terms:
Anonymous P2P
Friend-to-friend
Darknet
Private P2P
Networks:
Gnutella, Gnutella2 (G2)
FastTrack, Kazaa
eDonkey
BitTorrent:
Mininova, isoHunt, The Pirate Bay
DigitalRightsManagement : DigitalRightsManagement DRM is used by digital copyright owners to control who gets to access and copy their work. In particular, DRM gives programmers, musicians and movie artists some ability to remote control how people can install, listen to, view, and duplicate digital files
The problem is the control over how and when you can use their files, it is arguable that you do not really own the file after you buy it. As paying consumers learn more about DRM technology and civil liberties, many of them become outraged that they no longer "own" their music, movies, or software.
WIPO Copyright Treaty(WCT). Article 11 of the Treaty requires nations party to the treaties to enact laws against DRM circumvention.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an amendment to United States copyright law passed unanimously on May 14, 1998, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows users to circumvent technical copy-restriction methods.
The controversy surrounding DRM is great
DRM-Free is now being implemented due to controversy
My Opinion : My Opinion I do believe in a free market society and the rights of “intellectual property.” However I think that today there is absolutely no need to pay for software because any application you need can be found for free with Open Source. I have no problem with Microsoft and their “monopoly” because they aren’t one they are just the best in their field and have been for decades. Ethically speaking I understand the Free Software Movement’s stance that knowledge should be shared with the world, but if that means destroying capitalism in the process it is absolutely not worth it. If someone wants to pay for software that’s great, but if one would rather use Open Source that’s fine to. It is an ethical stalemate.
Slide 16 : Works Cited http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-272299.html
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/open-source.html
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200911/3216/Open-Source-getting-bad-reputation-on-security-says-vendor
http://www.serverwatch.com/trends/article.php/3868046/Open-Source-Software-Bad-Evil-and-Un-American.html
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/p2plegalitiesandethics/f/drm.htm
*Various Wikipedia searches
*Additional info from www.gnu.org
Some Good Sites : Some Good Sites http://www.fsf.org/