Open Source

Open source logo.

Open source (in English, open source) is a software development model based on open collaboration. practical benefits (access to the source code) and ethical or freedom issues that stand out so much in free software. For many, the term "free" refers to the fact of acquiring software for free. However, what it is about is lowering costs and expanding participation; The fact that it is free does not necessarily imply that it is free, the important thing is still to broaden participation and extend freedoms.

History

It was first used in 1990 in free software communities, trying to use it as a replacement for the ambiguous original English name of free software (free software). Which implies, for the case at hand, “software that we can freely use, write, modify and redistribute”.

The expression, for some, was not appropriate as a replacement for the already traditional free software, since it eliminated the idea of freedom, confused with the simple gratuitousness . However, it continues to be ambivalent, since it is currently used by programmers who do not offer free software but, instead, do offer the source code of the programs for review or modification before authorized by their academic peers.

Given the absence of such ambiguity in the Spanish language, the term free software is adequate to refer to programs that are offered with total freedom of modification, use and distribution under the implicit rule of not modifying these freedoms into the future. In fact, in English the term "free software" is also used to avoid semantic ambiguities.

From the point of view of a "strictly literal translation", the textual meaning of open source is that "source code can be examined", so it can be interpreted as a term more weak and flexible than that of free software. However, both movements recognize the same set of licenses and uphold equivalent principles.

However, it is necessary to differentiate open source programs, which give users the freedom to improve them, from programs that simply have the source code available, subject to restrictions on its use or modification.

Currently open source is used to define a new software movement (the Open Source Initiative), different from the free software movement, incompatible with the latter from a philosophical point of view, and completely equivalent from the point of view From a practical point of view, in fact, both movements work together in the practical development of projects.

The idea behind the concept of open source is simple: when programmers (on the Internet) can read, modify and redistribute the source code of a program, it evolves, develops and improves. Users adapt it to their needs, correct their errors with a shorter waiting time than that applied in conventional or closed software development, resulting in the production of better software.

Open Source Movement

Concept map of free and open source software.

The idea of open source is centered on the premise that by sharing code, the resulting program tends to be of higher quality than proprietary software, it is a technical vision. On the other hand, free software has philosophical and even moral tendencies: proprietary software, since it cannot be shared, is "unethical" since prohibiting sharing between human beings goes against common sense. No adaptation or changes that have not previously been made by the manufacturing company.

Like free software, open source has a series of necessary requirements for a program to be considered within this movement, these are:

• Free redistribution: the software must be given or sold freely.
• Source code: the source code must be included or obtained freely.
• Derivative work: the redistribution of modifications must be allowed.
• Integrity of the author's source code: the licenses may require the modifications to be redistributed only as patches.
• The license should not discriminate against any person or group: no one can be left out.
• Without discrimination in areas of initiative: commercial users cannot be excluded.
• License distribution: the same rights must be applied to anyone who receives the program.
• The license should not be specific to a product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
• The license should not restrict another software: the license cannot force any other software that is distributed with the open software to be also open source.
• The license must be technologically neutral: the acceptance of the license should not be required through a mouse click access or otherwise specific form of the software support medium.

This decalogue is compatible with the four freedoms of free software.

Open source programs

LibreOffice Logo. Open-source program.

• Operating systems: the best known, Red Hat (Centos), Ubuntu and Debian, based on Linux. Android, Google, for smartphones and tablets.
• Programs: There are open source programs in different areas, some of them are: FreeOffice and Open Office the Firefox browser, Thunderbird e-mail client, VLC media player, GIMP or InkScape image editors, Kdenlive video editor, Audacity audio editor, Frets on fire video games, 0 A.D., Hypnotix is an IPTV transmission app with live transmission support, movies and programs. You can also get a huge list of free TV channels around the world. Apertium Apertium is a free and open source software platform for automatic translation, with GNU license. The platform offers: automatic translation independent of the language; Language data collection tools for automatic translation; linguistic data of a large number of pairs of languages. Apertium is used in particular by the Wikimedia Foundation for the translation of articles
• Antivirus: ClamWin
• Apache Software Foundation and Github programs.
• The programming language of Apple Swift 2.
• Teaching platforms such as Moodle Chamilo (an example is sloodle)
• Hyperledger Fabric: Linux Foundation Open Source Project, is a blockchain modular infrastructure.

Open source in education

The open code allows educational feedback

Free or open source software is being implemented in education, due to both pragmatic reasons (lower cost, stability, security, efficiency) and ethical, social and political reasons. Authors such as Stallman insist that, educational level, only open source software should be used, because:

1. They give the freedom to copy and redistribute, thus creating a savings for educational institutions.
2. They promote the continued use of free software, which helps to develop more independent citizens in technology.
3. It allows students to really learn how software works and share what they learned within a community.

Extensions of the concept

Recently, the term "open source" or its equivalent in English open source is being applied by extension to creations that are not computer programs. Specifically, open source cinema is popularly used to refer to cinema under different types of free licenses.^{[citation required]} Another example is the project of an open source economy of the Open Source Ecology platform, started with the development of open source industrial machines. Another example is what happens with the social movement to release vaccines against the coronavirus COVID-19.