OSS and Licensing

Going back to the beginning and revisiting how current practices developed over time can help us understand where we are now, and where we are headed. When viewed in this light, open source licenses and business models stop looking like aberrations and start looking like part of the natural progression of an industry.

To most outsiders the ethics of software is not something usually considered. To most proficient computer users with a passing interest in this question the ethics of software is recognised as one of the fundamental questions in the digital rights area. To most of the latter, terms such as free software, open source, and their derivatives (FLOSS, FOSS, Software Freedom) are interchangeable. Choosing one over the other is a matter of taste rather than politics. However, to most insiders the question is not one of taste. There is a fundamental difference between the two areas even if they share a similar root. Free software is not the same as open source. The two groups differ in their fundamental philosophical approach to software and its importance to society as a whole. This paper examines the two groups' differing philosophies and explores how their actions have affected software development, access to fundamental software infrastructure, and the development of the concept of freedom.

The author discusses whether the open source movement should go the way of licensing open source software or content.