Why open source?

A hobby of mine is computer programming and tinkering with software. Open Source Software is nice because the openness makes programming more than a matter of repeated wheel-reinvention.

The Open Source state provides the opportunity for arbitrary review or auditing of software by any of its users (I.E. to search for security issues), and, in general, full disclosure of bugs and headaches people might run into trying to use it, since users of OSS often form discussion e-mail based mailing lists (listservs)

On the other hand closed-source software makers often keep the nature of bugs they become aware of as proprietary secrets, because publishing bug lists doesn't help to project their marketing image of robust, secure software, the best information you can find are commonly mere internet rumors.

The enhanced disclosure, and the constant development of Open Sourced, multipurpose software components that work, results in high-quality software in general.

I find that programming and releasing to the open environment within The Internet, and receiving input from other developers is an enjoyable experience.

So what do I do with Open Source software exactly?

I use it. On my personal computer, I use an operating system called GNU/Linux that is built on top of a kernel that is Free, Open Source Software.

All of the software that I use on a regular basis is Open Source software.

I write some Free Software too. For the curious, code samples, some written by me, are available at my contact homepage. I've also made contributions to larger development projects involving several coders. SorIrcd, for instance, which I help maintain primarily for SorceryNet's use is based on the ircd, which includes the contributions of at least 30 people.

Eric S. Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar discusses the point of Open Source quite well.

Some links to Open Source/Free software and information:

• Open Source Initiative

  This site houses the Open Source™ definition. OSI certifies various software licenses as Open Source, meaning that they comply with the accepted definition of Open Source.

• The GNU Project

  The Free Software Foundation's project to develop a complete system based entirely on free software: a huge collection of the Open source software available was made available by the GNU Project.

• SourceForge

  This site is all about developing and maintaining Open source software, except the site itself provides free services to open source projects, like CVS repositories, web hosting, etc.

  Sourceforge is a collaborative development system originally built using Open Source software.

  The sourceforge application itself, however, is sold commercially now.

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