Migration to open source—a personal experience

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Abhishek Puri: Dec 13 2012, 01:32 IST

The term open source (OS) arose in late 90’s; although, much of modern internet infrastructure predated and evolved from active code sharing between researchers after the dawn of modern computing age. It is difficult to trace its origins due to space constraints, but suffice to say that it arose out of ambiguity in “fair use doctrines”, with significant access barriers for community to examine source code or modify it. Interestingly, these ideas have spawned crowd sourcing for open source hardware, notably robotics and influenced scientific publishing for open access traditionally encumbered by copyright protection. Over the time, several unique and hybrid models of licensing have evolved for implementation.

One of the most prominent examples of OS software collaboration is development, porting and extensive deployment of Linux kernel. It proudly runs on the top ten fastest super computers and nearly the entire Web infrastructure. Linux geared towards desktop usage has X Window System (notably Gnome, KDE, XFCE) and package management systems (Debian, Arch Linux, Red Hat etc.) collectively called as a Linux Distribution or a Distro. Importantly, Linux is inherently secure, scalable as well as free from any vendor lock in. However, this write up does not address the naming controversies between GNU or Linux.

This reviewer started with BASIC and COBOL on 486 based processors and migrated to Microsoft Windows after desktop computing became affordable. MS Windows was and still remains a magnet for viruses, trojans and other malicious software despite it’s advertised “firewalls” and “virus scans” for security. This being closed

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Yash Pal | 13-Dec-2012Reply | Forward

It is heartening to note that Open-Source software is becoming mainstream and more and more people are using it and also there is greater discussion about it in the media. Though in a small article all aspects cannot be covered, yet I wish the author had highlighted some aspects: a. The concept of app(lication) store started with OS software b. Linux started as a server software and has moved to desktops; the robustness and security offered is much higher than for software which started as for desktops and now is tweaked for servers. c. Patent and copyright issues have hindered development of Linux (and other OS) In India, linux is DIY, either do it or lump it. This, I feel, is a big hinderance to it's wider use.