Open Source CodeBenefits and Detriments (sort of)

Robert Simon

Outline

DefinitionGeneral OverviewBusiness Aspects

– Current Market– Total Cost of Ownership– Security– Reliability

Open Source Definition

1. Free Redistribution

2. Source Code

3. Derived Works

4. Integrity of The Author’s Source Code

5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

Definition Cont.

6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

7. Distribution of License

8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

9. The License Must Not Restrict Other Software

10. No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

Interpretations

Code only viewable for review not editingCode available to edit and redistribute at

will recognizing differences in edited versions

Code available to edit and redistribute with permission and possible compensation

Unconditonal manipulation of code released to the public free of charge

Motivations to write open source code

Believers (19%): – believe source code should be open.

Learning and Fun (29%): – for non-work needs and intellectual stimulation.

Hobbyists (27%): – need the code for a non-work reason.

Professionals (25%): – for work needs and professional status.

Common Acronyms

GNU: GNU’s Not Unix – (a project to create an OSS/FS operating system)

GPL: General Public License – (the most common OSS/FS license)

OSS/FS: Open Source Software/Free Software

OSS/FS VS Freeware

OSS/FS is not “freeware”Freeware is proprietary software given

away without cost – does not provide any right to examine,

modify, or redistribute the source code.

Free software

“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price.

Free software does not mean non-commercial.

A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution.

Four Freedoms

1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose

2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.

4. The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Common Licenses

BSD GPL – General Public License

– Most Common LGPL MIT MozPL – Mozilla Public License

– More recent highly popular http://www.opensource.org/licenses/

– Has about 50 commonly used licenses

Applications

Operating Systems– GNU/Linux or “Linux”

Internet applications– Apache web server

Consumer and Buissness software– Open Office

Entertainment– Qube

Well-known web sites using OSS/FS:– Google (GNU/Linux) – Yahoo (FreeBSD)

OSS/FS Accomplishments(Open Source has its Benefits)

Sendmail is the leading email server.

Survey found 95% of all reverse-lookup domain name servers (DNS) used bind. (2000)

PHP = #1 Server-side Scripting Language.

OpenSSH = Internet’s #1 implementation of the SSH security protocol.

Business Concept

Market: past, present, & future:– Companies relied on existing products to

formulate business plans– Companies can manipulate existing software to

their needs to an extent– Companies develop software to suit their ideal

plans not the other way around

Sept. 2000 Purchasing costs

  Microsoft Windows 2000

Red Hat Linux

Operating System

$1510 (25 client)$29 (standard), $76 deluxe, $156

professional (all unlimited)

Email Server $1300 (10 client) included (unlimited)

RDBMS Server

$2100 (10 CALs) included (unlimited)

C++ Development

$500 included

Cost Savings of OSS/FS

OSS/FS costs less to initially acquire. Upgrade/maintenance costs are typically far

less.   Does not impose license management costs Avoids nearly all licensing litigation risks Often can use older hardware more

efficiently than proprietary systems– Yields smaller hardware costs – Sometimes eliminates the need for new hardware.

Cost Saving

Washington Post article: Open-source Fight Flares at Pentagon:– “At the Census Bureau, programmers used

open source software to launch a Web site for obtaining federal statistics for $47,000.”

– “It would have cost $358,000 if proprietary software were used.”

Security

Possible Problems– Security precautions revealed– Spyware readily installed into upgrades

Possible Solutions– Customizable after written– Easier to check written code for Spyware…

Example

Security

Apache has a better security record than Microsoft’s IIS, as measured by reports of serious vulnerabilities.

A 2002 survey of developers found that GNU/Linux systems are relatively immune from attacks from outsiders.

Security Breaches

1999 Advisory Analysis

VendorTotal Days, Hacker

RecessTotal

AdvisoriesRecess

Days/Advisory

Red Hat 348 31 11.23

Microsoft 982 61 16.10

Sun 716 8 89.50

Reliability ComparisonsGNU/Linux VS Win NT Server 4.0

ZDNet 10 month test:– NT server crashed an average of once every six

weeks • Each failure took roughly 30 minutes to fix

– Neither Linux server ever went down

One Year Bloor Research Experiment– GNU/Linux crashed once

• Took 4 hours to fix

– Windows NT crashed 68 times• Took 65 hours to fix

Quality

Does not prove that OSS/FS will always be the highest quality

BUT: clearly shows that OSS/FS can be of high quality

Financial effects

Short term – bad for the individual company

Long term – Good for the community as a whole

Risks & Rewards

Risks:– Ease in misuse of code

Relying on honor

Rewards:– Better code and progress

Open Source Code Homework:

1. Name 2 pieces of software that are open source.

2. Name 2 licenses that people release open source code under.