introduction to free software
DESCRIPTION
During an evening, the Liege Linux Team organised conferences where I made an introduction to free software. After some definitions, I quickly show most comman tasks done with free software, some interesting myths for end users and some important actors in the free software world.TRANSCRIPT
DefinitionFacts
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Introduction to Free SoftwareDefinition, facts, myths, actors
Jean-Etienne Poirrier
http://www.poirrier.be/
June 28th, 2007
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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FreedomWhat are free software?
Software
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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MythsActors
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FreedomWhat are free software?
Free ... Software?
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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FreedomWhat are free software?
Freedom
No subordination, no thrall, no constraint, no pressure applied by others
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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FreedomWhat are free software?
In the actual computer world ...
obliged to buy a computer with an imposed operating system
“intellectual property” → theft, piracy
outlandish and incompatible file formats
lack of transparency regarding security
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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FreedomWhat are free software?
Free Software 4 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 tothe public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the sourcecode is a precondition for this.
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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FreedomWhat are free software?
Some licences ...
More info: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Operating SystemWord processorsSpreadsheetsInternetGames
Operating Systems
Linux (RedHat, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SuSE, ...),FreeDOS, FIASCO, ReactOS, S.Ha.R.K., V2OS, ...
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Operating SystemWord processorsSpreadsheetsInternetGames
Write texts
Writer, AbiWord, KWord, ...
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Operating SystemWord processorsSpreadsheetsInternetGames
Do some computation
Calc, Gnumeric, KSpread, ...
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Operating SystemWord processorsSpreadsheetsInternetGames
Surf on the web
Firefox, Konqueror, ...
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Operating SystemWord processorsSpreadsheetsInternetGames
Play
Wormux, minesweeper, sudoku, 3D, racing, chess, ...
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Myths about Free Software
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Too complicated for normal people?
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
They already are used in kindergarten!
GCompris, educational software for children from 2 to 10 years old
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
They became easy to install
And are they easy to use? Just listen to the next 2 presentations!
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Windows, Linux, MacOS, ...
Free Software are available on nearly all possible operating systems (free or not)
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Shareware, freeware, free-as-in-free-beer software
But freely re-distributable with source code!
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Free Software, security and support
Way better privileges and access management, software actions monitoring,speed of bugs correction, ... (very active) Community support + support from
commercial companies
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Free Software are very often multilingual
KDE is available in 34 languages, e.g.!
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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DifficultiesWindows, Linux, MacOS, ...CostSecurityLanguages management
Linux is even available in Walloon !
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Richard M. StallmanEric S. RaymondLinus TorvaldsEben Moglen
Richard M. Stallman
54 years-old
hacker (noble meaning)
free software activist
software patents destroyer
father of the GNU project(1983)
father of the Free SoftwareFoundation (1985)
father of the Emacs text editorand other basic tools foroperating systems
http://www.stallman.org/http://www.gnu.org/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Richard M. StallmanEric S. RaymondLinus TorvaldsEben Moglen
Eric S. Raymond
50 years-old
hacker (noble meaning)
founder of the “Open Source”movement
“The Cathedral and theBazaar”, 1997
disputed member of theCommunity
http://www.catb.org/ esr/http://www.opensource.org/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Richard M. StallmanEric S. RaymondLinus TorvaldsEben Moglen
Linus Torvalds
38 years-old
creator of the Linux kernel
self-proclaimed “benevolentdictator” of the Linux kerneldevelopment
rarely goes out of his modesty(but when he does, the entireworld knows it!)
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/torvalds/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Richard M. StallmanEric S. RaymondLinus TorvaldsEben Moglen
Eben Moglen
47 years-old
law professor
founder and director of theSoftware Freedom Law Centerdefending Free Software legalinterests
Free Software Foundationmember
GNU GPLv3 writer
“Anything that is worth copyingis worth sharing”
http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/http://www.softwarefreedom.org/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Free Software ...
they are good, use them!
they can be freely copied and used
they allow us to easily do common tasks and much more!
they target all the ages, all the interests
they are not automatically free (as in free beer)
they are rather well documented
What are you waiting for?
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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To know more...
LiLiT (Liege Linux Team) : http://www.lilit.be/ and its Meeting Parties,Installation Parties and its participation to various other events
Free Software Foundation : http://www.fsf.org/
Framasoft : http://www.framasoft.net/ (in French)
Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software
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Many thanks to...
LiLiT and its volunteers who prepared this evening
Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds to initiate this movement, both at aphilosophical and technical standpoint
you for your attention and because you will try free software, right now!
This presentation is available on http://www.poirrier.be/
Jean-Etienne Poirrier Introduction to Free Software