[Ilugc] difference between free and opensource software
- From: akilan27@xxxxxxxxx (Akilan R)
- Date: Sat Aug 21 23:36:25 2010
On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 9:34 PM, Vijay <vijay@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Free Software is Open Source Software.
Open Source software may not necessarily be Free Software.
Agreed so far.
Open Source allows the coder more control over his program compared to Free
Software.
I don't think so. Lets see an example:
You see, I'm a coder and gave my code to people in hope that it will be
useful to somebody and
I did not want to restrict him from getting that knowledge. Then someone
took my source code and benefited from it
and after few years modified it to work on a new machine.
Now isn't it natural for me to expect that he should give that ported code
back to me and society so that i need not port it myself? I, personally, and
society, in general, had helped him and shouldn't i at the least expect that
he should return the favor by contributing back to society?
If i had released it as free software(eg: using GPL) this would have
happened automatically. But not all open source licenses does this. In fact
this is a major point in which Open Source Initiative differs from Free
Software. (@Balaji, hope this cleared your doubt)
Now say, which gives more control to me(the coder)? I, the coder, expect
people who benefit from free knowledge to contribute back to it.
--
*??????* (Akilan R)
(
http://www.coding-aviator.blogspot.com)
*I should have no use for a paradise in which I should be deprived of the
right to prefer hell.*
--Jean Rostand
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