CBSE Class 12 Informatic Practices Open Source

Open Source Concept

Introduction

After learning this chapter the student will be able to:

Understand about OSS/FOSS/FLOSS

Cite different examples of OSS

Describe open document format

Understand character encoding in Indian languages

Know about open type/true type/static/dynamic fonts

Write the numbers 1 to 8 in the given circles so that no two numbers joined by a line differ by 1.

Computers and internet have transformed our lives. Software is required to work on a computer but the software that we buy or download only comes in the compiled ready-

OPEN SOURCE CONCEPTS

to-run version. It is next to impossible to modify the compiled version of the software. At times we feel the need to change certain features of the software but are unable to do so. In this chapter we will study about software which are developed collaboratively and they can be modified as well. Such software are available in many forms like Free Software, Open Source Software (OSS), Free Open Source Software (FOSS) and Free/Liberal Open Source Software (FLOSS).Well, have you noticed something common in all these terms. That's right! It is the word free. People often correlate this word with the cost. They think that these software are available for free. Practically, these software can be acquired at very little or no cost. But, here, "free" means freedom to use. These software can be studied, copied, redistributed freely and even modified according to one's need without seeking any kind of permission. In order to modify such software the developers also provide the source code to the users. 

There do exist software which are actually "free" in the sense of price. These are known as Freeware. Lots of freeware can be downloaded from the internet for various different purposes such as currency converters, drawing graphs and charts etc. But freeware may not come with the source code. Therefore freeware differ from free software. The focus in this chapter is on free software rather than freeware. 

The first formal definition of "free software" was given in 1983 by Richard Stallman, a long time member of the hacker community at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He insisted that a free software should give the following four freedoms to users:

Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.

Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.

Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so as to help your neighbour.

Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

Examples of free software include the Linux Kernel, MySQL Relational Database, Apache web server, OpenOffice.org office suite and TeX and LaTeX typesetting systems.

OPEN SOURCE CONCEPTS

Later on, the term "free software" was recoined as "open source software (OSS)" and soon after as "free open source software (FOSS)". In order to avoid the ambiguity in the word "free", in 2001, FOSS was termed as FLOSS, short form of "free/liberal open source software".

You can get more information on open source software from opensource.org. National Resource Centre for Free and Open Source Software (NRCFOSS) is an initiative of the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. NRCFOSS contributes to the growth of FOSS in India through Research & Development, Human Resource Development, Networking & Entrepreneurship development, as well as serves as the reference point for all FOSS related activities in the country. Operating systems and Desktop environments

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