The free software movement was cemented by Richard Stillman when he founded the GNU Project in 1983. Most software available, be it Microsoft Word or Photoshop, is “proprietary software”, where the software is the property of a company and the source code is often jealously guarded.

Most people assume that “free” refers to “no cost” but “to understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer” (1). As Richard Stillman himself explains, “Warez is not 'free software'. It's a gratis binary file [...] but you're still not able to take the source and modify it for your own purposes. That's not truly free” (2).

More info"Free Software for Creative People" by Daniel James

Media linkCNET Insiders Secret - Open Source Free Software

Sources(1) The Free Software Definition, GNU Project / (2) Free Software Is A Political Action, interview with Richard Stillman, 1999

Several mobile phone companies have adopted Linux as their Operating System within the last couple of years. One example is Motorola, which announced their first American cell phone in 2007. Chrysty Wyatt, the VP Ecosystem and Market Development at Motorola, explained in 2007 that Motorola decided on the move after seeing the great success of their Linux powered smart phones in the high end of the market in Asia (1).

Another adopter is Verizon Wireless who declared in May 2008 that Linux was its operating system of choice and that they would introduce Linux powered phones in 2009 (2).

More info"Professional Ubuntu Mobile Development" by Ian Lawrence and Rodrigo Cesar Lopes Belem

Media linkWorld Debut: The First Completely Open Mobile Phone

Sources(1) Silicon valley watcher: Motorola agressively adopting mobile Linux / (2) Verizon Wireless picks Linus as its mobile OS of choice

If you've ever found yourself on a Linux forum, you will have read things such as “type this in the command line”. Linux offers flexibility to the user, as “CLI (command line) and GUI (graphic user) are essentially complementary modes of interacting with the computer” (1).

Windows is built upon a single graphic environment. On the contrary, Linux offers several graphic environments, such as KDE and Gnome, enabling the user to choose. Additionally, while using the CLI isn't necessary, users often find themselves gravitating towards it as they get more confident with their Linux system, as “when you grow up, you learn to read and write.” (2)

More info"Linux Pocket Guide: Essential Commands" by Daniel Barrett

Media linkAn example of one of many Linux GUI, Linpus Linux Lite 9.4

Sources(1) Linux GUI vs Command Line, About.com / (2) Learning The Shell

In November 2005, Greek-American academic, computer scientist and author Nicholas Negroponte unveiled the first prototype of the laptop computer created for the “One laptop per child” project. The aim of the project is to provide a way for children to learn and teach each others. Many children throughout the world have already benefited from it.

Despite Nicholas' respect for Bill Gates (1), he has chosen to use the Linux 2.6 kernel and GNU software with a graphical interface named “Sugar” for the laptop. Free and open source software will allow children to control their laptop and make it grow with them (2). An updated version of the latop was released in May 2008.

More info"Being Digital" by Nicholas Negroponte

Media linkNicholas Negroponte explains why it's important for children in the developping world to have access to a laptop

Sources(1) Interview with Nocholas Negroponte, Silicon Valley Radio, 1995 or 1996 / (2) OLPC Wiki, The Five Principles

Traditionally, copyright licensing forbids to redistribute copies and modified versions of a work. The only alternative used to be releasing your software in the public domain, uncopyrighted, “but it also allows uncooperative people to convert the program into proprietary software” (1).

In the mid 1970s, some computer programmers started advocating that the legalities of copyright law slowed down software development and new forms of copyright licensing specifially granting the permission to distribute copies and modify the work have appeared, including the Creative Commons Share Alike (2) and GNU licenses.

More info"Creative Common Law Strategies for Protecting the Environment" by Clifford Rechtshaffen and Lynn L. Bergeson

Media linkA Shared Culture

Sources(1) GNU: [this clue] / (2) Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license

Roberto raised to fame after writing a paper against Microsoft in 1998, in which, among other things, he accuses the company of skipping the beta-testing stage of a software and releasing to the public untested beta versions (1).

He is a professor at Paris VII University and coordinator of Mancoosi, a project with the goal to organise the complexity of free and open source software infrastructures. The project is supported by several European universities and companies (2).

More info"Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman"

Media linkShort interview of Roberto on Mancoosi given at Solutions Linux in Paris, March 31st 2009 (interview in French)

Sources(1) Hijacking the world: the dark side of Microsoft / (2) Roberto Di Cosmo : "Mancoosi est un projet de R&D avec une approche scientifique"

As explained above (clue 1), free software doesn't mean “no cost” and the Free Software Foundation itself encourages developers to sell free software, stating that “Distributing free software is an opportunity to raise funds for development. Don't waste it!” (1).

Several companies have developed business models to commercialize their individual free software or full collection of free software (Linux distribution), “including support, updates, professional services, or a commercial version of a product including features that are available only for purchase.” (2)

More info"Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law"

Media linkRichard Stallman - What is free software?

Sources(1) GNU: Selling Free Software / (2) Making Money With Open Source, Part 1: Turning Users Into Buyers

This project was started by the OSF Research Institute (now Silicomp RI) and Apple Computer to port Linux to a variety of Power Macintosh platforms. Later, the project “transitioned from Apple and OSF to a community-led effort” (1).

As Apple made the switch to Intel x86 processors on all its computers in 2006, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu can be installed on modern Macs. For Mac users who wish to installed specific Linux applications, an option with OS X is to use Fink (2).

More info"Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional" by Keir Thomas

Media linkHow to Install Linux Ubuntu on Mac OS X using VMware Fusion

Sources(1) [this clue] / (2) How to install Linux applications in OS X - a complete walkthrough

Several public sectors in various countries, from Japan to the USA via Nigeria, have migrated to Linux computers (1). While most of them are using Linux for servers, some of them have deployed Linux on desktops including the French police force who are reported to have installed 50,000 Ubuntu powered machines in 2008.

However, there are also examples of failed migration to Linux systems, such as Birmingam City Council where a project to upgrade 1,500 library PCs didn't produce the expected results, as “the council had compared the cost of the Linux desktop migration with an upgrade to Windows XP, and had found that a Microsoft upgrade would be cheaper” (2).

More info"Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing" by Andrew St. Laurent

Media linkInterview with Mary Ann Fisher, Linux Program Manager, Public Sector, IBM Corporation

Sources(1) Linux Online / (2) Large public-sector Linux project flops

Malicious software is a big issue for Windows users, who normally have to pay a lot of money for protection software such as Norton and McAfee. Linux computers are also vulnerable to attacks if not set up properly (1).

However, a common argument in favour of Linux for security reasons is that “when you close off your software, only a small number of people can review your software to find (and fix) errors, and when your software is open source, you can have many more reviewers” (2).

More info“Moving from Windows to Linux” by Chuck Easttom

Media linkSecurity advice from Marcus Murray and Hasain Alshakarti

Sources(1) Protect Your Linux Computer, Get Safe Online / (2) Interview with David A Wheeler, Linux Security

Intellectual works, whether they are recorded music, software code, fiction writing etc, come under copyright laws. They are governed by a set of rules by which you give permission to do certain things and forbid to do others. Under copyright laws, most uses are forbidden.

The free software movement advocates for the “freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software” (1). To provide those freedoms, source code has to be available to users, hence the “open source software” name being used quite often interchangeably with “free software”.

More info"Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution" by Chris DiBona

Media linkI am a PC (With Linux) - spoof ad

Sources(1) GNU: The Free Software Definition

Animation studios have been using Linux for their servers, rendering farms and desktops for years and “DreamWorks has led efforts to use Linux as a complete solution from the artist's desktop to the final output onto film” (1).

Many of the studios actually develop their own open source software, which are then available to users for download. One example is OpenEXR which is developped by Industrial Light & Magic and was used in Harry Potter among other films (2).

More info"The Essential Blender: Guide to 3D Creation with the Open Source Suite Blender" by Roland Hess

Media linkBlender 3D Art

Sources(1) Disney, DreamWorks, and ILM experts reveal Linux secrets this month in LA / (2) OpenEXR

A congenital cerebral palsy sufferer, Raymond became involved with the computer hacker culture in the mid-70s. In 1997, he published “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”, in which he states common-sense yet essential lessons for software development, such as “Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch” and “Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)” (1).

He has been less at the forefront of the open source movement in the last few years, due to a string of reasons including “One of the things I've observed is movements that remain dependent on the talents and charisma of key individuals don't survive those individuals” (2).

More info"The Cathedral & the Bazaar" by Raymond

Media linkGo Open: Raymond Interview Part 1

Sources(1) The Cathedral and the Bazaar / (2) Interview with Raymond, January 2008, Linux Journal

Linux uses X Window, “a network-transparent graphical windowing system based on a client/server model” (1). This system is flexible because it allows developers to create a GUI (Graphic User Interface) on top of it. There are several GUIs for Linux, though a few dominate the market, including Gnome.

However, it also means that Linux users must choose which GUI to use. This higlights a major difference between Linux and Windows, which is that “Linux is a kernel, an operating system—not a complete operating environment in the sense that Windows is a complete operating environment.”

More info"Gnome for Linux Bible (For Dummies)" by David D. Busch

Media linkUbuntu Jaunty and Gnome-do Docky - An awesome combination!

Sources(1) What Is the X Window System. O'Reilly Media / (2) Linux vs. Windows: Choice vs. Usability, DevX.com

Firstly, I should state that yours truly recorded a full album on Linux back in 2005 (see my interview (1)). However, I should also say that I switched back to Windows XP after that, due to hardware incompabilities. Several open source softwares have been ported to Windows, such as Audacity, so there is no need to switch to Linux to experiment with open source audio software.

Hardware manufacturers are increasingly providing Linux drivers for their products but it still isn't plain sailing: “setting up a stable Linux system for audio production can be problematic enough, and the wrong decision about your hardware can render your otherwise powerful system mute and tuneless” (2).

More info"Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Images, Audio, and Video"

Media linkAudacity Tutorial: Part I

Sources(1) Rachel App: Linux music geek, interview by Tina Gasperson, August 2005 / (2) Little Boxes: Audio Production Hardware At Studio Dave, March 2009, Linux Journal

Richard graduated from Harvard with a BA in Physics in 1974. When asked how he started working with computers, he answered “I first read manuals and wrote programs on paper in 1962 or so. 1969 was when I first saw and used a real computer” (1). He founded the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation in the mid 80s because he believed users should have the freedom to study and modify software.

He comes from the hacking community and explains that “A hacker is someone who enjoys playful cleverness. [...] If you want to refer to security breakers you should call them 'crackers'” (2).

More info"Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman"

Media linkInternet and Web Pioneers: Richard Stallmam, interview 1996

Sources(1) Interview: Richard Stallman, Kernel Trap, January 2005 / (2) Interview: How a hacker became a freedom fighter, New Scientist, April 2008

While I am old enough to remember when surfing the internet meant using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) has dominated the web browsers market since the late 90s. However, after years of domination, several new web browsers are gaining a share of the market, including Google Chrome and Opera.

One of the reasons IE is losing market share is that while it pioneered some web design techniques back in the early 2000s, it has since refused to comply with standards and therefore, some websites do not look as good on it as on other browsers. “When it comes to testing browsers for web standards compatibility the Acid test is one of the most common. Internet Explorer gets an epic 21/100 on the Acid test.” (1).

More info"Web Geek's Guide to Google Chrome" by Jerri Ledford and Yvette Davis

Media linkWhat is the best Web Browser?, CNET

Sources(1) Why is Internet Explorer 8’s adoption rate so slow?, OS Attack

In the early days of computer programming, each software included all that was necessary to communicate with the computer hardware. Then libraries of support code for specific hardware communication tasks were created and developped into “monitor-programs”. By the mid 1980s, DOS, commercialised by Microsoft, was dominating the market.

Microsoft made the decision to focus on software when every other company concentrated on hardware, because, according to Bill Gates, “Paul and I believed that software would drive the industry and create substantial value.” (1). At the same time as Microsoft dominated the home computer market, other systems such as Unix, GNU, Linux & BSD were also being developped.

More info"Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Quest to Educate the World's Children" by John Wood

Media linkBirth of the Microsoft DOS

Sources(1) The Bill Gates Interview, 1993

According to a survey carried out in 2007, “more than half of all US government executives have rolled out open-source software at their agencies” (1). This is in shark contrast with the UK government.

However, the adoption of Linux in the US government hasn't been plain sailing. Back in 2004, there were serious concerns from certain software engineers, in particular Dan O'Dowd: “When war breaks out, all of the vulnerable [Linux] systems and all of the [Linux] systems that were compromised while they were temporarily vulnerable will go out of service or be commandeered by the enemy” (2).

More info"Fedora 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible" by Christopher Negus

Media linkKarston Wade of the Red Hat/Fedora Project - LinuxWorld 2008

Sources(1) Survey: Open source gaining traction in US government, ComputerWorld UK / (2) Linux Threatens United States National Security, A42

In the 1960s, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and several other American universities, a new sub-culture developed. Richard Stallman was a participant and he stated that “It is hard to write a simple definition of something as varied [...] but I think what these activities have in common is playfulness, cleverness, and exploration” (1).

In the media, the word is often used to describe computer criminals, who breach security on public networks, quite often for malicious purposes. However, the correct term for this is “cracking” (2).

More info"From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry (History of Computing)" by Marting Campbell-Kelly

Media linkIs Computer Code Free Speech?

Sources(1) Richard Stallman: On [this clue] / (2) The Jargon File

In 1985, Richard Stallman, author of the EMACS, a powerful text editor he had developed in the MIT Lab, set out to develop “a complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can use it” (1).

Linux is a kernel based on Richard Stallman's operating system and intially developed by Swedish Linus Torvalds. What is a kernel? “Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system.” (2)

More info"Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software" by Sam Williams

Media linkStephen Fry says "Happy Birthday"

Sources(1) Interview with Richard Stallman, BYTE, July 1986 / (2) Linux and the [this clue] Project, by Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, is an atheist, stating “I hope you don’t need gods or goddesses, because all the evidence says there are none” (1) and doesn't celebrate Christmas.

However, this date happens to be Newton's birthday and Richard chooses to celebrate that day as “Grav-mass”, a reference to “gravity”. Richard Dawkins, the famous British evolutionary biologist and author of “The God Delusion” has also remarked that Newton's birthday could be an alternative excuse for a Winter holiday (2).

More info"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins

Media linkRichard Dawkins -- The God Delusion

Sources(1) Interview with Richard Stallman: Free Software & Women, August 2007, Todas / (2) The 10 Days of Newton, by Olivia Judson, The New Yorks Times, December 2008