[OSGeo-Discuss] (Free and) Open Source positives.

[Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul)]

All,

My compiled list from comments on the list.  Thanks everyone.  I have a conference booth I'm manning next week that I'm making a handout for based on this input.

Bobb




*         The Four Freedoms:

o    The freedom to run the program for any purpose.

o    The freedom to study how the program works and adapt it to one's own needs.

o    The freedom to redistribute copies.

o    The freedom to make improvements to the program and release them to the public.

*         You're not dependent on the vendor's business plans, which are determined mostly by their marketing people.

*         Free and Open Source licensing flavors: (not sure how this will be applied to handout as of yet)

o    GNU

o    FSF

o    OSI
*         You are not prohibited from using proprietary software in the mix.
*         The act of using free and open source software (FOSS) in general is also promoting the Open-Data concept as well as Open-Standards.
*         You are not requiring other potential business partners to use proprietary Software in order to use your services and get at your data in an unfettered manner, nor to serve their data to you.  Interoperability is considerably enhanced.  The big proprietary packages offer these capabilities as well, but beware of special situations and process additions that still bind your process to a proprietary package.
*         The bigger picture view is that free and open source software should be thought of as a method for keeping business operations open and inter-operable across boundaries and jurisdictions.  And to be thought of as a business best practice.  It's not about going 100% free and open source software, even though you can if you want to, but to provide a system and mechanisms that work for both proprietary and open technologies.

*         You don't have to wait for a year or more to have access to a bugfix/enhancement of the software, you can try it right away and influence the resolution of the problem.

*         You can influence the direction the software roadmap takes by funding contributions, paying for support, reporting bugs, and registering desired features with the project.

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