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Important events in Open Source history

1980 – Usenet arrives Open source development has always been driven by collaboration, and with the arrival of Usenet, developers could collaborate on a worldwide level like never before and made it easy to share software. Usenet (built on top of the infrastructure that is now called the Internet) was in many ways a precursor to today’s Internet forums and predated the World Wide Web by over a decade. 1983 – Richard Stallman starts the GNU Project Started by Richard Stallman in 1983, the GNU Project is a mass collaboration project for open and free software that has flourished even to this day. Stallman followed up the GNU Project with the creation of the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to further support the free software community. The GNU Project has resulted in a huge amount of open source software over time and gave birth to the GNU General Public License (GPL), arguably the most popular open source license model out there. And when the Linux kernel arrived, GN
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Situations When Closed Source Wins over Open Source

• When end users are not software developers – Open source software, such as Linux, has a well-deserved reputation for being designed for and by geeks. Its UI/UX is typically not plug-n-play and often requires the use of command line tools. • When SaaS is what you really want – Many cloud services can offer the same functionality and support as closed source on-site software on a pay-as-you-go basis that is far less expensive than buying proprietary packages for in-house use. • When you need full driver support – Proprietary hardware drivers are typically developed with close cooperation of the hardware vendor and thus, they perform better. Open source packages often have missing drivers or use generic ones by default. • When the choice is between a small open source vendor and an established closed source vendor – In this case, the risk that the smaller open source project is abandoned or takes a sharp detour is greater. • When the closed source vendo
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Open-Source Software vs. Proprietary Software

Open Source Software PROS Free to Try Before You Buy Community open source is completely free to anyone to download, including source code, for evaluation. Even COSS vendors usually have a free version of their software packages, which includes source code. In fact, much open source software, especially OSs, are available as “live” media, which means you need not actually install the software but instead run it directly from a DVD or USB flash drive Free Support Whether an open source package is being evaluated or integrated commercially, it has the same global community of users and developers available for asking questions and advice. Support includes detailed documentation, forums, wikis, newsgroups, email lists and live chat. None of this costs anything except time. Open Standards Open source communities are leery of proprietary standards, preferring instead to adhere to open standards around communication protocols and data
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What is Proprietary Software?

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Definition of Proprietary Software Proprietary software is any software that is copyrighted and bears limits against use, distribution and modification that are imposed by its publisher, vendor or developer. Proprietary software remains the property of its owner/creator and is used by end-users/organizations under predefined conditions. Proprietary software may also be called closed-source software or commercial software. Proprietary software is primarily commercial software that can be bought, leased or licensed from its vendor/developer. In general, proprietary software doesn't provide end users or subscribers with access to its source code. It can be purchased or licensed for a fee, but relicensing, distribution or copying is prohibited. Most software is proprietary software and is produced by an independent software vendor (ISV). The restrictions or conditions imposed by the vendor/developer on proprietary software is elaborated within the software's end-user
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What is Open Source Software?

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Definition of Open Source Software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software distributed with its source code available for modification. The software usually includes a license for programmers to change the software in any way they choose. They can fix bugs, improve functions, or adapt the software to suit their own needs. Some examples of Open Source Software Accounting: SQL-Ledger (accounting system) Anti-virus: ClamAV                                                                         Databases: LDAP MySQL (database) PostgreSQL (relational database with ability to do stored procedures) Knowledge Management: Plone (open source content management system)    Knowledge Tree   Domain Name Servers: Bind PowerDNS                         Telephony: Asterisk (A Phone system [PBX] that also supports Voice Over IP technology) Elastix FreePBX Trixbox CE E-mail Servers: PostFix QMail                                       
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