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Open Source

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Open source is more than free stuff, it's a philosophy

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The four essential freedoms

A program is free software if the program's users have the four essential freedoms: [1]

  • The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).
  • The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
  • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).
  • The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

source

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Other freedoms...

You are not tied to any one vendor

  • Users/supporters decide what the new features will be
  • If you don’t like the product, you can change it (either yourself or paying someone else)
  • For bigger projects, you can choose between different competitors for new development or support.
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Other freedoms...

  • Choice of support/suppliers
  • No black-box
  • Common tools/codebase = larger userbase
  • Peer review
  • Less "forced" upgrades
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More than just software

  • open data
  • open documents
  • open APIs
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Open source, open data, open documents, open APIs

❤️ 💻 📈

Open culture

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Open source

❤️ 💻 📈

Transparency

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Transparency

A huge benefit that comes from open source is how it is inherently transparent.

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Open source sustainability models

  • Bounty model
  • Support contract model
  • Consulting/expertise
  • Mixed licensing
  • Grants/stipends
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Open source (other) models

  • Writing/reading/editing documentation
  • Helping others
  • Testing software
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Open source != no support

A common misconception about open source software is that it lacks support. Just because it's free, it doesn't mean it lacks support. It just means you have to pay for support, just like you would with proprietary software.

A primary funding model for open source products is support!s

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Open source == support

  • Support from developers 💻
  • Support from the community 💕
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Open source == Community

The open source model of working flips the relationship between the vendor and the customers -- the customers make the decisions and the vendors follow suite, unlike in a traditional business model.

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Benefits of choosing open source

  • Better support/updates
  • Peer review
  • Pooling resources
  • Designed for your use-cases
  • Overall better cost-effectiveness
  • Public money = public solution?
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Other ways of supporting open source

(Other than writing code and documentation!)

  • Bug hunting
  • User testing
  • Project managing
  • Design/UX
  • Promoting (extra)
  • Fundraising
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Bug hunting

When filing a bug report, please be sure to note a description of the problem, your current edition, your operating system, and steps that can be taken to reproduce this issue.

  • Filing issues
  • Sending bug reports
  • Trying weird things and see if it breaks anything
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User testing

  • Testing in different operating systems and browsers (if applicable)
  • Accessibility testing
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Project managing

Project management is important but maybe don't do this unless you have been asked, or offer first. 😅

  • Prioritization
  • Task identification
  • Task organizing
  • Task assignment
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Design / UX

  • Make a logo
  • Improve interface design
  • Give feedback on awkward interactions
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Promoting

I covered this earlier in terms of technical writing for a project, but promotion doesn't have to be limited to writing within the project.

  • Write/blog/tweet about the project
  • Create videos, posters, presentations
  • Reach out to listservs, conferences, local meetups
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Fundraising

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

Always important!

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

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Related OSS successes

  • A real-world example: The lossless video codec FFV1
  • Austrian National Archive (Mediathek) wanted to do lossless digital video archiving
  • Not satisfied with existing products (Interoperability issues)
  • Found FFV1 in FFmpeg: Excellent codec, but we wanted/needed more...
  • Contacted and hired a FFV1 developer
  • Other parties involved for advices (pooled resources)
  • Budget calculated in reference to costs of proprietary alternatives
  • Now FFV1 version 3: faster and integrity-aware
  • Important: published our experiences with FFV1
  • So: other archives using FFV1 now profit from improvements, too!
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Additional Resources

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Learning more

Home

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Open Source

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