Free and Open Source Software: Difference between revisions

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'''Topic Owners:  [[User:dulles|dulles]]''','''[[User:Ayelet|Ayelet]]'''
'''Topic Owners:  [[User:dulles|dulles]]''','''[[User:Ayelet|Ayelet]]'''


Back to [[syllabus]]
Back to [[syllabus]].


=Precis=
=Precis=
=Guest wish list=
* [http://mako.c Mako]
* [http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/index.html Eric von Hippel]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hyde Lewis Hyde]
* Eric Raymond/OSI ?
* PJ/Groklaw


:'''The Big Think team might be able help secure some of these folks -- hit me up at peter@bigthink.com if you'd like some assistance making contact. [[User:PeterH|PeterH]] 07:11, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
Free software seems to have a dual-nature: it can be both software libre or software gratis. To put it in the usual terms, software can be "free as in speech" or "free as in beer". These terms are useful for helping us understand the different motivations and interests surrounding the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software Free / Open Source Software] (F/OSS) movement. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman Richard Stallman] assets that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software software (libre)] is important, and that this value is paramount. Meanwhile, companies like [http://www.redhat.com/ RedHat] appear to be trying desperately to turn a profit on a free (gratis) product with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_open-source new business model]. When somebody says, "I use free software", do they mean software libre or software gratis, and why? Clearly, any discussion of the F/OSS movement absolutely must explore the division between "free as in speech" and "free as in beer".
 
The libre/gratis distinction seems to relate to a sort of war between [http://www.free-culture.cc/ Free Culture] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permission_culture Permission Culture], which might be recast as a clash between the drive of economic development and the drive of cultural development. Of course, the law still respects copyright and patents, so Free Culture is a long way from a victory. Stil, software libre has managed to turn the tools of copyright upon themselves with the invention of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft copyleft] licensing system. Given the usefulness of such licenses, and their [http://creativecommons.org/ availability], maybe the law of copyrights doesn't need to adjust at all in order to account for free culture.
 
Maybe casting the division as one between economics and culture is just a divisive technique. Perhaps theories of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy gift economies] can help us come to understand software libre as attempting to create a separate software economy?
 
* Free as in Beer v. Free as in Speech
* Copyright v. Copyleft
* Copyleft v. Free Culture - is there a difference?
* The Economic Drive v. The Cultural Drive
* Profit v. Reputations
* Insiders v. Outsiders - are there deep disconnects between the business, software, and legal worlds that make common ground hard to find?


=Readings=
=Questions=


* An extract of [http://freeasinspeechandbeer.com/drupal/ free, as in speech and beer] by Darren Wershler-Henry?
We propose to explore the division between "free as in speech" and "free as in beer" and then use what ideas we can develop to explore the following questions:
* An extract about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy gift economies], such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_(book) The Gift] by Mauss, or [http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Imagination-Erotic-Life-Property/dp/0394715195 The Gift] by Hyde.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar The Cathedral and the Bazaar]
* [http://echo.gmu.edu/freeandopen/ a list of resources on F/OSS]


=Introduction=
# To what extent does the law of copyrights protect software libre and software gratis?
# To what extend is the law of in fundamental opposition to software libre or software gratis?
# Why does free software succeed in geek communities and in the market-place generally, and what does the future of free software look like?
# Can we imagine a world in which gift economics is the predominant ruler of the software markets? Would the law extend into this world or not?


There are a number of different motivations and interests surrounding the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software F/OSS]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman Richard Stallman] assets that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software software (libre)] is important, and that this value is paramount. Meanwhile, companies like [http://www.redhat.com/ RedHat] appear to be trying desperately hard to turn a profit on a free (gratis) product with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_open-source new business model]. When somebody says, "I use free software", do they mean software libre or software gratis, and why? Clearly, a discussion of the F/OSS movement absolutely must explore the division between "free as in speech" and "free as in beer".
=Guest Wish-list=


The libre/gratis distinction seems to relate to a sort of war between [http://www.free-culture.cc/ Free Culture] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permission_culture Permission Culture], which might be recast as a clash between the drive of economic development and the drive of cultural development. Of course, the law still respects copyright and patents, so Free Culture is a long way from a meaningful victory. But software libre has managed to turn the tools of copyright upon themselves with the invention of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft copyleft] licensing system. Given the usefulness of such licenses, and their [http://creativecommons.org/ availability], maybe the law of copyrights doesn't need to adjust at all in order to account for free culture.
* [http://mako.c Mako]
* [http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/index.html Eric von Hippel]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hyde Lewis Hyde]?
* Eric Raymond/OSI?
* PJ/Groklaw


Maybe casting the division as one between economics and culture is just a divisive technique. Perhaps theories of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy gift economies] can help us come to understand software libre as attempting to create a separate software economy?
:'''The Big Think team might be able help secure some of these folks -- hit me up at peter@bigthink.com if you'd like some assistance making contact. [[User:PeterH|PeterH]] 07:11, 25 December 2008 (UTC)


=Essential Question=
=Readings=


Given the philosophical and economic drives that support the F/OSS movement, to what extent does the law properly account for each? Is the "free as in speech" / "free as in beer" distinction with us forever? Will there always be some deep seated friction between the two, based in a culture war? To help us think about these exceptionally broad questions, we propose to discuss the libre/gratis dichotomy along with several others, and encourage students to question the usefulness, even the existence of these dichotomies.
* [http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Imagination-Erotic-Life-Property/dp/0394715195 The Gift], Lewis Hyde - Chapters TBD.
* [http://echo.gmu.edu/freeandopen/ A List of Resources on F/OSS]
* [http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm] (Abstract only), Yochai Benkler


=Dichotomy?=
=Potential Readings=


* Free as in Beer v. Free as in Speech
* [http://catb.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/homesteading/ Homesteading the Noosphere], Eric S. Raymand.
* Copyright v. Copyleft
* [http://freeasinspeechandbeer.com/drupal/ free, as in speech and beer], Darren Wershler-Henry.
* Copyleft v. Free Culture - is there a difference?
* [http://www.thejemreport.com/content/view/125/68/ The Gift Economy and Free Software], Jem Matzan.
* The Economic Drive v. The Cultural Drive
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/posts.html?pg=6 Free, as in Beer], Lawrence Lessig.
* Gifts v. Reputations - why contribute to F/OSS? ([[User:Ayelet|Ayelet]] - can you elaborate?)
* Insiders v. Outsiders - are there deep disconnects between the business, software, and legal worlds that make common ground hard to find?

Revision as of 02:10, 29 December 2008

Topic Owners: dulles,Ayelet

Back to syllabus.

Precis

Free software seems to have a dual-nature: it can be both software libre or software gratis. To put it in the usual terms, software can be "free as in speech" or "free as in beer". These terms are useful for helping us understand the different motivations and interests surrounding the Free / Open Source Software (F/OSS) movement. Richard Stallman assets that software (libre) is important, and that this value is paramount. Meanwhile, companies like RedHat appear to be trying desperately to turn a profit on a free (gratis) product with a new business model. When somebody says, "I use free software", do they mean software libre or software gratis, and why? Clearly, any discussion of the F/OSS movement absolutely must explore the division between "free as in speech" and "free as in beer".

The libre/gratis distinction seems to relate to a sort of war between Free Culture and Permission Culture, which might be recast as a clash between the drive of economic development and the drive of cultural development. Of course, the law still respects copyright and patents, so Free Culture is a long way from a victory. Stil, software libre has managed to turn the tools of copyright upon themselves with the invention of the copyleft licensing system. Given the usefulness of such licenses, and their availability, maybe the law of copyrights doesn't need to adjust at all in order to account for free culture.

Maybe casting the division as one between economics and culture is just a divisive technique. Perhaps theories of gift economies can help us come to understand software libre as attempting to create a separate software economy?

  • Free as in Beer v. Free as in Speech
  • Copyright v. Copyleft
  • Copyleft v. Free Culture - is there a difference?
  • The Economic Drive v. The Cultural Drive
  • Profit v. Reputations
  • Insiders v. Outsiders - are there deep disconnects between the business, software, and legal worlds that make common ground hard to find?

Questions

We propose to explore the division between "free as in speech" and "free as in beer" and then use what ideas we can develop to explore the following questions:

  1. To what extent does the law of copyrights protect software libre and software gratis?
  2. To what extend is the law of in fundamental opposition to software libre or software gratis?
  3. Why does free software succeed in geek communities and in the market-place generally, and what does the future of free software look like?
  4. Can we imagine a world in which gift economics is the predominant ruler of the software markets? Would the law extend into this world or not?

Guest Wish-list

The Big Think team might be able help secure some of these folks -- hit me up at peter@bigthink.com if you'd like some assistance making contact. PeterH 07:11, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Readings

Potential Readings

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