Free Software Movement and GNULinux

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Free Software Movement and GNU/Linux

By: Ringo Pebam *

Computers have increasingly defined and controlled our lives. These machines run us. Code runs these machines.

How was it before?

Software developers create computer programs by writing text, called "source code," in a specialized language. This source code is often mechanically translated into a format that the computer can run. In the early days of computing (approximately 1945 to 1975), researchers in Universities made their software available to researchers in other Universities.

In those days, software was considered part of the computer. Computer manufacturers used to include the source code of the software delivered with their computer systems. In those days sharing software was a general practice, like sharing of recipes in cooking.

The researchers used to take codes from each other. They added features and fixed problems and send back the enhanced version, the code got enhanced everyday. This kind of software-sharing communities existed for many years, they were the original hackers and believed information should be free. From the perspective of a 1970s-era programmer, the transaction was the software equivalent of a neighbor stopping by to borrow a power tool or a cup of sugar from a neighbor.

With the coming of (affordable) microcomputers into the market it became a common practice, to sell software independent from hardware. They made the software proprietary, keeping the source code as a secret. Source code had become a trade secret and companies refused to part with their code.

Ethics found no place in their thinking. Hackers were hired away by proprietary software companies, making them sign nondisclosure agreements and promise not to help any fellow hacker. The free software community was shrinking

How GNU/Linux was born?

In 1984, Richard Stallman, a researcher at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, could no longer tolerate the closing of software source code, resigned from his job and started the Free Software Movement; he started the GNU Project-(GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX") which was aimed at creating a Unix1 compatible operating system2 which would be Free Software (Free as in Freedom, and not in price as in free beer).

Unix was developed at the Bell Labs, in 1969, and was originally distributed for free and gained much popularity in universities. Unfortunately, in the '70s and '80s, Unix had become commercial and rather expensive. The source code of Unix, once taught in universities courtesy of Bell Labs, became cautiously guarded and not published publicly.[1]

Operating system is a program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer hardware.[2]

Free Unix!

Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed...

- Richard Stallman; Posting to net.unix-wizards; 27 Sept. 1983.

Richard Mathew Stallman

In 1985 Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation, a non profit umbrella for free software development, to promote the development of GNU and GPL (General Public License) related software. The GPL is Stallman's innovative license, that allows anyone to use the program and modify it, but prevents code from becoming proprietary once distributed and it also forbids proprietary programs from "linking" to it. By the 1990's the GNU Project had written all the major components of an operating system except one, the kernel.

In 1991, "Linux" a free kernel developed by Linus Benedict Torvalds a second year student of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki and a self-taught hacker, appeared in the internet.

Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones...

I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

- Linus Torvalds; Posting to comp.os.minix; 25 Aug. 1991

Linus Torvalds

After its first release, it soon attracted the attention of several other hackers. While Linux initially was not really useful except as a toy, it soon gathered enough features to be interesting even for people uninterested in operating system development.

Codes were downloaded, tested, tweaked, and returned to Linus and Linux improved day by day. This led to the Linux revolution as we know it today. The Linux kernel when combined with the already-developed GNU operating system components the resulting operating system was surprisingly stable and capable. Linux became the de facto kernel for the GNU operating system.

The Linux Kernel is also an interesting social phenomenon, apart from being a technological feat. Through Linux, the free software movement has broken through to general attention. On the way, it even got an informal marketing department and brand: open source.

It is baffling to many outsiders that something as successful as Linux could be developed by a bunch of unorganized people from various corners of the world in their free time.

"GNU/Linux" or simply "Linux" is used by an estimated 20 million people worldwide. There is a common misconception in the media that needs to be cleared; Linus Torvalds never developed the so-called "Linux operating system". Torvalds was the lead developer of the Linux kernel, but the kernel is only one of many pieces of an operating system; most of the GNU/Linux operating system was developed by the GNU project and by other related projects.

It is a result of the contribution of thousands of programmers, from all parts of the world. There are various people who have contributed more than others, notably Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds but still without the thousands of semi-anonymous coders, their contribution would not have amounted to as much as it is today.

Why we should use Free Software?

The implications are not just technical but economic, political and cultural. Free and open access to the source code of software, is showing its tremendous power to fortify user sovereignty in the computing/internet marketplace.

"Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer." Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.

Free Software has significant market share in many markets, is often the most reliable software, and in many cases has the best performance. Free Software scales, both in problem size and project size. Free Software often has far better security, perhaps due to the possibility of worldwide review.

Free software options should be considered any time software or computer hardware is needed. Free software is far better on the dimensions of cost, power and quality. With GNU/Linux - we can download the operating system or buy a CD costing some few hundreds rupees, we can even modify it to suit our needs, and we can make copies of it and lots of money can be saved. For a state like ours it would be very economical.

To Schools/Colleges/Universities:

Free software permits students to learn how software works. When students reach their teens, some of them want to learn everything there is to know about their computer system and its software. That is the age when people who will be good programmers should learn it.

To learn to write software well, students need to read a lot of code and write a lot of code. They need to read and understand real programs that people really use. They will be intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day.

Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson. It also teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of tycoons.

Conclusion

We are a group of GNU/Linux users, based around the principles of sharing. We are trying to bring the Free Software awareness, and build a local GNU/Linux Users Group in Manipur, which had been missed out for so long. Manipur (and the North-East) should not lag behind.

As of now, our group members are all scattered and reside outside Manipur, and we can give help and support only through computer networks. We wish we were at home to be able to help in person in Manipur. But whenever we come home we will be doing all that we can. We are also trying to bring in experienced users and GNU/Linux enthusiasts residing in Manipur to establish a local users group and make things move in Manipur. It will be a non-profit group that provides support and education for GNU/Linux users.

Join us now! Let us continue expanding, achieving technical revolutions and making good software with the true spirit of freedom and sharing.

Please inquire about GNU/Linux and feel free to ask for help/support/guidance by mailing to our mailing list:

Home Page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-manipur/
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [email protected]

References:

www.gnu.org/
www.fsf.org/
notabug.com/2002/rms-essays.pdf
cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/1999-02
puggy.symonds.net/~rkrishnan/mec-article.pdf
www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/
www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html
daniel.brunthaler.at/study/english/opensource.html
www.linuxgazette.com/node/9721
liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/linux-the-big-picture.html

Ringo Pebam, a software Engineer in Bangalore and GNU/LINUX enthusiast, writes regularly to e-pao.net
He can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on February 09, 2006.

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