Piracy affects open source in several ways. Below is my one hour hard work discussing few points about open source, piracy and its affect on open source.

What is open source???

You heard about open source softwares like wordpress, linux, audacity, etc. Well these softwares are free and the their source code is readable and available to all.

A free software may not always be open source. Some softwares run under there own propriety licence and the source is closed(and are known as closed source). Similarly open source softwares may not alwas be free. If you are a blogger and use Wordpress then you should know about the Revolution templates. They are now open source but are paid.

How does source code helps programmers?

Well, using the source code, programmer can modify and distribute it in his/her own way. But you gotta keep the copyright license.

“Piracy”??

Most of us are familiar with the word “piracy”. If legal words are to be used out here, I mean “Copyright infringement”. The word refers to illegal or unauthorized use of some kinda of material in a way it violates the owner’s rights. In short words, piracy means stealing or simply a crime.

Some popularly pirated softwares are Mircosoft Windows, Adobe Photoshop, vBulletin, etc.

How does piracy affects the free and the open-source?

Let’s start with examples.

Case 1 Are you a graphics designer?? If you are, you must be familiar with Adobe Photoshop. Now, I can bet that more that half of the designers would not have heard about GIMP. GIMP is a free open source software alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop.

Case 2 ~ 90% people out here are still MS Windows users. Linux is

1. better than Windows.

2. is free and open source.

3. has hundred of sub distributions.

4. it has better support professionally and from a large community.

From the above two cases it is clear that piracy is killing the scope of the open source softwares. Well, if you’ll surf the internet, you’ll find hundred of such examples.

These days piracy is widespread and is done on a large scale. You’ll see markets full of pirated items which you could get for free or for <1/10th cost of the original. This has become a business of its own. Today on every corner of a street, you’ll be able to find somebody selling pirated stuff.

Use of pirated softwares are not only illegal but they cut down the market of the open source softwares. When user can have a paid expensive software for free why the hell in the world would he/she use a open source software? The person will not even try to find a free alternate to that software. Some of the examples are listed above.

Open source getting popular??

Well, actually in the past few years the open-source has taken the lead in few sectors.

For example, wordpress is a software used by bloggers to host their blogs on their own. The software is open source and rules the blogging market.

Another one, Mozilla Firefox is best the internet browser out here and is going great guns is ready to take over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (closed source) as the most widely used browser. Adding to competition are Opera and Google’s Chrome.

Does piracy affect the Giants??

I suppose, not much!!

An example again. Adobe Tools ( like Photoshop, DreamWeaver, etc. ) and Windows are widely used and pirated. But I don’t think Adobe or MS minds this at all. Actually Adobe/MS doesn’t have much expectations from people whom they know can’t afford the software.  Their main target are large companies which buy their products in bulk.

Now the biggest question- Encourage piracy or open source? I’ll say, ” Its on you. . . . . “

P.S.

This is the biggest post of mine so far.

MyBB went open source a few days ago. It was under a propriety license but free.

MyBB is a free open-source alternative to vBulletin. btw, my site http://webmasteropia.com is made on MyBB :cheers:

Wordpess 2.7 due 10th Dec 2008.

Ubuntu 8.10 will be releasing in two days from now, ie, on 30th October.

What is Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is a Linux[debian]-based operating system. It is free and open-source under GNU licence.

It is the best operating system around. “Windows being the worst.” It is developed by a big community and is being improved each and everyday. It comes packed with a multiple softwares which makes it ready to use, just after its installation. Installation is pretty easy, and the live cd makes it easy to try.

What is a live cd?

Live cd is operating system packed in a cd which boots when cd is inserted. No need of installation. So in ubuntu’s case, it is try before you install.

Features[from http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-8.10-desktop]

3G Support

For constant connectivity public WiFi has limitations. Improvements to the network manager in Ubuntu 8.10 makes it simple to detect and connect to 3G networks and manage connectivity. This connectivity is delivered through an inbuilt 3G modem, through ‘dongle’ support, through a mobile phone or through Bluetooth. It is a complex environment that Ubuntu 8.10 simplifies through a single interface and the auto-detection of many of the most popular devices.

Write Ubuntu to and Install from a USB Drive

Ubuntu has been made available to users as an image for CDs and DVDs to date. But CDs and DVDs are slower, less portable and less convenient than USB sticks. Now, a simple application in Ubuntu will allow users to write Ubuntu to a USB drive, even a modified version of Ubuntu with their data on it, so it can be carried everywhere to plug in and use on any machine.

Guest Sessions

In a world of ‘always on’ pervasive computing it is more likely that users lend their computers to colleagues or friends at conferences, cafes or at parties so they can check email, etc. Guest sessions allow users to lock down a session easily so a guest can use the full system without interference with programs or data.

BBC Content

Starting the media players within Ubuntu (Totem Movie Player and Rhythmbox) launches a menu of selected content from the broadcaster that is free to air. This is a mixture of video, radio and podcasts and available in high quality, much of it playable using non-proprietary codecs. Content is constantly updated via the corporation’s stream and will vary dependent on location, though some content will be available for every user.

Latest Gnome 2.24 Desktop Environment

The GNOME desktop environment project releases its latest version which is incorporated into Ubuntu 8.10. New features include a new instant messaging client, a built-in time tracker, the latest Ekiga 3.0 video and audio conferencing tool, improved file management and toolbars plus better support for multiple monitor use with the ability to set screen resolution by monitor.

For Ubuntu 8.10 server edition’s specifications: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-8.10-server