History of Linux and Software Freedom
Number of replies: 8L101. History of Linux and Software Freedom
This interactive, self-paced, self-study Moodle demonstration course introduces you to the basic Unix/Linux jargon and the ideology behind the Free and Open Source Software.
https://moodle.net/?downloadable=1&submitbutton=Search+for+courses
1) https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=279493#p1200873
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
Thanks for sharing Visvanath
I've come across so many misunderstandings of FOSS. Not enough people know about it and how it works. The most problematic misunderstandings and most frequent questions seem to be over business models and ownership. People outside FOSS communities don't understand how developers, designers, admins, etc. make a living from FOSS. It's simple enough to explain but not explained often enough.
I couldn't find a mention of one of the most important pre-cursor texts for the idea of FOSS licensing and the GPL was The Cathedral and the Bazaar:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/
There's also an hour-long interview with the author, Eric Raymond, here: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/eric_raymond/
I hope this helps
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
I always thought that Eric Raymond managed to make things worse, not better. For me he's way too much of a geek to resonate with 'ordinary' users and decision makers.
That "How to ask questions..." thing (http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html in case you are unfamiliar) is especially irritating and high handed.
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
It is a generation conflict. Compare the Newsgroup geeks those days to social media crowd today!
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
...and I'm in my 50s, which probably puts me firmly in that newsgroup generation but I've never found them anything other than annoying.
Last time I moaned about "Unix Geeks" in these forums I got a ton of abuse
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
I know, The Cathedral and the Bazaar was highly influential and IMO paved the way to Open Source. (See the video in Work sheet 3, section C) One can argue whether all the prophecies came true or not, but the fact is that the paper motivated a whole generation.
With that I am at explaining why C&B it is not discussed in my demo course. It is for a newer generation of IT people who make use of FOSS for practical reasons, without ever thinking of the ideology. In addition the course must be very short to keep the interest of a curious non-IT person. Remember, "To learn about some of the features and capabilities of Moodle" is also an objective.
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
Apologies if you've already included it but Richard Stallman (St. Ignutius) gave a TED.com talk about the why's and how's of FOSS:
Free software, free society: Richard Stallman at TEDxGeneva 2014
Re: History of Linux and Software Freedom
This particular video, the TED Talk, is the exception. (Possible that the TED people forced RMS to be brief. ;(). I brought it up sometime back in Comparison and Advocacy https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=269349#p1162016.