Week 6: Clear

Photo by: phradaka
Open Source software is, typically, freely distributed software and source code. The first time I ever came across a piece of open-source software was when I was introduced to the Linux OS. At the time I had known some computing "revolutionaries" (this was in the late 90s) who espoused the use of this OS as it challenged monopolies held by Microsoft.

The went on to explain that more and more open-source software would continue to show-up (and they were spot on in that prediction as even Google went on to create a slew of open source software mimicking many programs offered commercially; they're open-source program office now homes 250,000 open source programs being created as we speak). They likened the concept to the ability to use manual transmission in a car: it gives you slightly more control over how the engine works. Likewise, the use of command prompts, among other things, allowed them to use their computers in whatever manner they would like.

Linux was created by Linus Torvalds, and was based off of Unix and the GNU project. However, as no free kernel (which connects application software to the hardware in a computer, as seen in Prof. Olsen's layer cake analogy) was available at the time, he set off on creating his own. The code in Linux is allowed to be manipulated and redistributed (hence, open-source), and has led to the many different forms of Linux available to us today.