Week 7 Open Source and Free Software: Digital Commons

“The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, and people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.” (1)
I will admit, I have read a lot of the readings; I understand the topic well enough, but I am finding it hard to grasp the whole concept due to limited prior knowledge in this field. That only applies to this blog as I will try and learn more on my own. Saying that, I am a perfect example of why the owners have control. In my life, I find the Internet very useful and it serves my purposes well, I assume the majority of users are the same. After reading the info I do appreciate that, in the cyber arena as in all areas of life, there is a war going on to keep the net growing and user friendly. Not just a tool for the few to profit off and control. In response to the first question, why would anyone want to switch to free or open source software? I think it’s a personal choice. As Steven J Vaughan-Nichols points out, it’s not for everybody! Although I don’t like Vaughan-Nichols too much, he seems a bit of a creep to Microsoft, he makes some good points. I can however, see many benefits in switching, provided you know what you are doing. You have control and freedom to achieve what you want whilst online; it would also benefit not only the whole community but also the Internet industry itself by allowing it to expand. With the restrictions placed on non-open source, the Internet will always be controlled and used for profit when it should be more than that. Things like open source will have obvious benefits on the cyber industry. Anything new like this is a step forward not only for the industry but for our daily lives; it’s like as Mr. Vaughan-Nichols says, by running a whole host of stuff through open source it’s easy to see how software program “owners'' get annoyed. People in control find it very hard to relinquish power and the same goes for this. There will always be a victim in this type of scenario and it is better for it not to be the whole community.

(1) Open source initiative, 2005,
(2) Linux-watch.com,(2005)Vaughan-Nichols,Steven J,linux-watch.http://www.linux-watch.com/news/index.html