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Last modified by chrisby on 2025/01/11 10:03
From version 2.68
edited by chrisby
on 2025/01/01 12:00
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To version 2.71
edited by chrisby
on 2025/01/08 11:01
Change comment: There is no comment for this version

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1 -There are two major philosophical movements that offer an alternative to proprietary software: the Free Software movement, primarily represented by the **Free Software Foundation, or FSF** for short, and the Open Source movement, primarily represented by the **Open Source Initiative, or OSI** for short. Note that the "free" in free software stands for "freedom" in a broad sense, not just "free of charge", but we will come back to that soon.
1 +There are two major philosophical movements that offer an alternative to strictly protected, also called "proprietary" software: the Free Software movement, primarily represented by the **Free Software Foundation, or FSF** for short, and the Open Source movement, primarily represented by the **Open Source Initiative, or OSI** for short. Note that the "free" in free software stands for "freedom" in a broad sense, not just "free of charge", but we will come back to that soon.
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3 3  ### Common Principles
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42 42  The FSF sees several problems with permissive licenses:
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44 44  * Permissive code allows vendors to include it in their proprietary products. Software that is partially open source does not necessarily make it more secure. For example, in a product that is 99% open source, the remaining 1% proprietary part may contain all the malicious code. This means that the partially open source product poses the same dangers as a 100% proprietary product. 100% open source code running on your own machine is a necessary condition to achieve freedom and security.
45 -* Another problem is that vendors can reuse permissive code without any obligation to share improvements. The vendor writes new proprietary or closed source code based on the open source code and keeps those improvements for himself. This means that the work of the open source community can be used for the vendor's financial benefit without anything being given back. Worse, the proprietary product may outcompete the original open source project, reducing its impact and harming the open source ecosystem. This is called "proprietary capture" or "open core hijacking".
45 +* Another problem is that vendors can reuse permissive code without any obligation to share improvements. The vendor writes new proprietary or closed source code based on the open source code and keeps those improvements for himself. This means that the work of the open source community can be used for the vendor's financial benefit without anything being given back. Worse, the proprietary product may outcompete the original open source project, reducing its impact and harming the open source ecosystem. This is called "proprietary capture" or "open core hijacking".
46 46  * There is also the problem of fragmentation. Multiple vendors may each create their own proprietary product based on the same permissive code. Instead of collaborating and contributing back to the common core project, they are inefficiently duplicating their efforts.
47 47  
48 48  **Copyleft Licenses**
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69 69  
70 70  **Why should people with no technical expertise care about open source? Speaking of people who cannot even read the source code.**
71 71  
72 -* Even if you do not have the expertise to examine or modify the source code yourself, open source software allows you to engage specialists who can adapt the software to meet your needs. You also benefit from the collective work of a broader community that improves the software. In contrast, proprietary offerings can limit your control and create dependency on the vendor for updates or modifications. From a business perspective, open source can provide long-term benefits, such as reduced risk by reducing dependence on a single vendor. Therefore, from a purely profit-driven perspective, choosing open source may be the more economical option.
72 +* Even if you do not have the expertise to examine or modify the source code yourself, open source software allows you to hire specialists to adapt the software to your needs. The main benefits are the protection of personal data or intellectual property and reduced dependency on a single vendor. Therefore, from a purely profit-driven perspective, choosing open source may be the more economical option.