Open Source Software: We, the People... 

We are on the precipice of a new age of software construction and
distribution, which will affect almost all people who use computers,
software and technology. This change is being effected by a method and
philosophy of creating software called Open Source, which we will examine
in detail here. As the Internet has wrought democratizing changes for many,
creating an open 'commons' for people worldwide to share and
inter-communicate, so Open Source software will sweep similar changes
through the computer software industry and benefit consumers and society.

The Information Technology (IT) industry, which encompasses most things
people think of when they envisage 'technology', from mobile-phones to
laptops to ATMs to the Internet, is now amongst the most important
industries on Earth. It is firmly entrenched in all Western countries, and
becoming so in most others. Almost everything you touch, watch, hear, read
or commute in, is produced, delivered or controlled through some computer
related process. The trend towards IT is accelerating, and we all need a
voice in helping choose its direction. The relationship between computers,
software and society should not be merely the domain of technologists;
there are crucially important issues and decisions which need broader
consideration. Your consideration.

By now, the Internet needs no introduction. It has become a
millennium-defining entity, ushering in a new era of open, rapid and
cost-effective communication amongst individuals, corporations and
communities worldwide. It has rapidly become part of daily life
for hundreds of millions of people in almost all countries.
For many, it is the most breathtakingly useful communication tool and
harbinger of things to come, since Gutenberg's printing press.

There are several reasons why the Internet has become so good, so quickly,
and effectively. These reasons are mainly due to the mind-set and efforts
of the people involved in nurturing the fledgling network in its first 15
years of existence. These technologists were quick to realise just what
their creation may one day achieve. To ensure success and the widest
possible availability, they design software technologies which where open,
simple, with no licencing fees, no software patents and no corporate
control. As such, they have fostered a universally powerful tool which
benefits mankind, and is the spur for much growth in business and
employment.

The Internet has become society's most empowering technology due to its
openness and freedom. By comparison, most software you are likely to be
using at present offers neither attribute. Instead we have various large
and powerful software corporations whose overriding aim is to maximise
wealth for themselves and their shareholders; their software is merely a
means to this end. These corporations have generally held almost total
control over the software landscape that we as users rely on. They can
introduce and revoke software versions at will, opt not to fix serious
bugs, decide that new versions of software should break compatibility to
force you to upgrade and design systems with often woeful robustness and
security. Further, in most circumstances, when you buy a copy of their
software, they do not sell you the software as such, merely the right to
use it; only as they dictate, and with extremely limited forms of warranty
and with no implied fitness of use. Recent moves by the software industry
in the United States (where almost all packaged software that you use is
likely to have been developed) to introduce the Uniform Computer
Information Transactions Act (UCITA,) further curtails user rights, and
greatly increases vendor control. For example. Amongst many unsavoury
possibilities, UCITA allows for a software vendor to reach across the
Internet and neuter your software forever, if perchance you do something
which breaks their licence agreement. This will leave you and perhaps your
business high-and-dry.

In general, the software quality experienced by most users is woeful. We
have been 'trained' into accepting that rebooting our computers every few
hours is just part of life. While we may have few qualms about vendors
producing some software for our personal computers which is not very robust
and in which known substantial faults exist, how would we feel about flaky
software in medical equipment, flight-control systems or car airbag control
systems? Alternatively, how would we feel if our web-based private email
was suddenly accessible to every user worldwide with access to the Internet
through the inept programming actions of our software service provider? How
about if vendors produced software which upon installation on our PCs, was
able to scan our personal files and upload details of these to vendor
headquarters? Similarly, what if vendors of operating systems (the software
which runs your computer desktop) designed and created software which was
so un-secure, that we users were subject to a virus scare every other week,
possibly even had our systems infected and lost productivity and data?  
Believe it or not, major software companies have managed to achieve all of
these scenarios. Do we have to accept this loss in our productivity and
freedom. Shoould our privacy be held to ransom becuase no-one can
determine what the proprietary software vendor has coded in
their software?

There is an alternative. We have recently heard a growing chorus of
accolades given to a new and powerful method of developing software called
Open Source, bought into existence by nominally the same band of
technologists who nurtured the Internet. How it works and why it is a
better approach is what makes open source such an important issue for our
technological future. 

All computer software is written as 'source code', the human readable
blueprints of a software program. This is then generally translated into
machine readable instructions called 'binaries', which are shipped to users
in the pretty boxed packages we buy from the software store. The contents
therein are not decipherable by humans; thus, this software is called
'closed source'.  Further, the software package licence limits your rights
as to how to use and copy this software, whether you can reverse engineer
it to make it inter-operate with other technology etc. Open Source differs
from the traditional 'closed source' software by a few simple attributes;
all the source code is released, with permission to copy and modify; all
software is available at no or minimal charge; since the source is
available, the software is transparent to all, thus making it possible for
security experts worldwide to scan for security holes, trojan horses and
possible privacy issues. Taking a cue from 'Good Government', this process
makes for open and accountable software.

The overriding aim of Open Source software is to maximise the rights of the
user community; 'We the People'. For a number of reasons, this
differntiates the motive forces driving the evolution of Open Source
software, as opposed to proprietary vendor software, and results in more
robust, more secure, more trustworthy code. Science can be used as a close
simile in this analysing this method of software construction. What makes
Science perhaps mankind's most successful endeavour is the open
communication and verification of results between practitioners. This makes
Science self correcting in the long term. Because it is open, the wheel
need not be re-invented, merely inherited. It also means that over time,
the fruits of Science are available as potential benefits to all. The Open
Source software development method shares these positive attributes.

The traditional corporations which rely on closed source software
development are not well placed to deliver to mankind the software needed
for the next phase of the information revolution. The promise of open,
robust and inter-operable software, where the focus is on the rights of the
people, is best developed by the vast number of individuals and
organisations acting on enlightened self-interest who are writing the
current wave of Open Source blockbusters such as Linux, Perl, FreeBSD,
Apache and PHP; the software infrastrcture for the new millennium. These
technologists, writers, artists and end-user testers are working hard at
producing a viable and long-term software 'commons' for all users
worldwide. They each have their specific reasons for their contribution,
but we all benefit from their labours.

As IT permeates more and more of our lives, we _must_ have the confidence
to know either that software systems are without substantial faults,
privacy and security exploits, or that we are permitted access to the
source code so we can verify the degree of robustness claimed by the
software's authors, and the right to resolve the problems therein. As it is
an accepted truism amongst programmers that there will always be bugs in
any non-trivial software program, demanding the purveyors of software
release the source code, rings of sure-footed pragmatism. By having access
to the source code for all the important software items we use, we are no
longer at the mercy of any single software publisher. You don't have to be
a programmer to benefit, as there are plenty of programmers who will gladly
undertake this task on behalf of all users.

The combined technical and social advantages make a compelling case for
Open Source software as perhaps our best hope for achieving quality,
reliable software for all of us. Perhaps more important is that with this
newly landscaped software 'commons' wrought by Open Source, we, the people
can achieve something that has never been possible before: freedom and
total control of our computing destiny. Never underestimate the advantages
of freedom and control. Freedom of multiple software providers, jostling in
real competition with no monopolistic leveraging; freedom over how we copy
and modify this software; freedom as to where we can go for support;
control over getting bugs fixed in a timely manner; control over ensuring
that there are no hidden gotchas which betray our privacy and security; and
control over the longevity of software which is important to us and our
businesses. As software becomes all-pervasive and our basic rights,
freedoms and privacy dovetail with the electronic world, Open Source may be
the only way that we can ensure '.. the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity.'


About the Author: Con Zymaris is CEO of Melbourne IT services firm,
Cybersource.