Grokking open source

David M Williams
Wednesday, 19 March 2008 18:22

Opinion and Analysis

This is because open source software is transparent. The source code is visible to all. It can be inspected and analysed in depth, by anyone around the globe. You need not fear that the published source code differs from the compiled executable because you can recompile it yourself from source code. You can, under many free software licenses, modify the code and use it for yourself or redistribute it for the benefit of others.

It took many months until anyone noticed G-Archiver was doing this. By contrast, a rogue open source app would be detected swiftly – because it is so exposed. There would have been a rapid discovery and the damage greatly minimised and contained. Alas, no matter how many times your operating system warns you the program you are about to run could be malicious you just cannot have unfettered confidence in the integrity of a proprietary or closed-source program. With open source there is no mystery; every single line of logic can be put under the microscope and any flaws, whether intended or unintentional, laid bare.

You could look at the numbers. Linux is the #1 server operating system providing domain hosting on the public Internet. The bulk of e-mail sent through the Internet originates through sendmail. PHP is the major server-side scripting language used online. Over 75% of all DNS domains are serviced by an open source application.

Why is this so? It’s not because all these guys are making a fortune out of their work. It’s not because they’re being bankrolled by large companies. It’s not because they just wanted to copy something which had already been done and got lucky.

The real reason for the success and proliferation of open source is because of the sheer overriding devotion to the cause among its developers and advocates and users alike. They believe in it. They share a goal of empowering computer users to have the freedom to use their systems as they like without any restriction on their liberty, without vendor lock in, without having a curtailed chance to review software they might consider purchasing.

This liberty breeds passion for quality and passion for utility and the result is damn fine software which benefits you and benefits me.

Another matter which causes furrowed brows is how you get any support for free software. Yet, conversely a hallmark of good open source projects is an incredible community of informal and freely available support which centres around e-mail lists, wikis, irc chat channels, open documentation and bug trackers. True, these may take a bit more digging to find than commercial level support – but they do offer support simply not available with proprietary software: you can interact directly with the people who created the software, and those who have experience with installing and maintaining it along with users who have likely encountered similar problems to yourself.

Open source is part of these developers and advocates and it permeates their worldview and outlook. These people do it because they grok it. Do you?