Open Source Code Benefits and Detriments (sort of)

1. Open Source CodeBenefits and Detriments (sort of) Robert Simon

2. Outline • Definition • General Overview • Business Aspects • Current Market • Total Cost of Ownership • Security • Reliability

3. Open Source Definition • Free Redistribution • Source Code • Derived Works • Integrity of The Author’s Source Code • No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

4. Definition Cont. 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor 7. Distribution of License 8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product 9. The License Must Not Restrict Other Software 10. No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

5. Interpretations • Code only viewable for review not editing • Code available to edit and redistribute at will recognizing differences in edited versions • Code available to edit and redistribute with permission and possible compensation • Unconditonal manipulation of code released to the public free of charge

7. Motivations to write open source code • Believers (19%): • believe source code should be open. • Learning and Fun (29%): • for non-work needs and intellectual stimulation. • Hobbyists (27%): • need the code for a non-work reason. • Professionals (25%): • for work needs and professional status.

8. Common Acronyms • GNU: GNU’s Not Unix • (a project to create an OSS/FS operating system) • GPL: General Public License • (the most common OSS/FS license) • OSS/FS: Open Source Software/Free Software

9. OSS/FS VS Freeware • OSS/FS is not “freeware” • Freeware is proprietary software given away without cost • does not provide any right to examine, modify, or redistribute the source code.

10. Free software • “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. • Free software does not mean non-commercial. • A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution.

11. Four Freedoms • The freedom to run the program, for any purpose • The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. • Access to the source code is a precondition for this. • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. • The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. • Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

12. Common Licenses • BSD • GPL – General Public License • Most Common • LGPL • MIT • MozPL – Mozilla Public License • More recent highly popular • http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ • Has about 50 commonly used licenses

13. Applications • Operating Systems • GNU/Linux or “Linux” • Internet applications • Apache web server • Consumer and Buissness software • Open Office • Entertainment • Qube • Well-known web sites using OSS/FS: • Google (GNU/Linux) • Yahoo (FreeBSD)

14. OSS/FS Accomplishments(Open Source has its Benefits) • Sendmail is the leading email server. • Survey found 95% of all reverse-lookup domain name servers (DNS) used bind. (2000) • PHP = #1 Server-side Scripting Language. • OpenSSH = Internet’s #1 implementation of the SSH security protocol.

15. Business Concept • Market: past, present, & future: • Companies relied on existing products to formulate business plans • Companies can manipulate existing software to their needs to an extent • Companies develop software to suit their ideal plans not the other way around

16. Microsoft Windows 2000 Red Hat Linux Operating System $1510 (25 client) $29 (standard), $76 deluxe, $156 professional (all unlimited) Email Server $1300 (10 client) included (unlimited) RDBMS Server $2100 (10 CALs) included (unlimited) C++ Development $500 included Sept. 2000 Purchasing costs

17. Cost Savings of OSS/FS • OSS/FS costs less to initially acquire. • Upgrade/maintenance costs are typically far less.   • Does not impose license management costs • Avoids nearly all licensing litigation risks • Often can use older hardware more efficiently than proprietary systems • Yields smaller hardware costs • Sometimes eliminates the need for new hardware.

18. Cost Saving • Washington Post article: Open-source Fight Flares at Pentagon: • “At the Census Bureau, programmers used open source software to launch a Web site for obtaining federal statistics for $47,000.” • “It would have cost $358,000 if proprietary software were used.”

19. Security • Possible Problems • Security precautions revealed • Spyware readily installed into upgrades • Possible Solutions • Customizable after written • Easier to check written code for Spyware… • Example

20. Security • Apache has a better security record than Microsoft’s IIS, as measured by reports of serious vulnerabilities. • A 2002 survey of developers found that GNU/Linux systems are relatively immune from attacks from outsiders.

21. 1999 Advisory Analysis Vendor Total Days, Hacker Recess Total Advisories Recess Days/Advisory Red Hat 348 31 11.23 Microsoft 982 61 16.10 Sun 716 8 89.50 Security Breaches

22. Reliability ComparisonsGNU/Linux VS Win NT Server 4.0 • ZDNet 10 month test: • NT server crashed an average of once every six weeks • Each failure took roughly 30 minutes to fix • Neither Linux server ever went down • One Year Bloor Research Experiment • GNU/Linux crashed once • Took 4 hours to fix • Windows NT crashed 68 times • Took 65 hours to fix

23. Quality • Does not prove that OSS/FS will always be the highest quality • BUT: clearly shows that OSS/FS can be of high quality

24. Financial effects • Short term – bad for the individual company • Long term – Good for the community as a whole

25. Risks & Rewards • Risks: • Ease in misuse of code • Relying on honor • Rewards: • Better code and progress

26. Open Source Code Homework: • Name 2 pieces of software that are open source. • Name 2 licenses that people release open source code under.