Free For the World to See

When I entered the world of computers, Internet and anything technology-related, every bit of software I came into contact with was proprietary. Using the software meant paying for it. “Of course, why shouldn’t it come free?” was the thought which came to my mind as I slaved through long hours of programming assignments when I took a technology-related course in college. Conceptualizing applications and systems was horrifying enough and putting them into hard code – variables, loops, data structures, databases, writing in grammatically incorrect expressions, debugging – everything was sheer torture. Having experienced what it was like to be a front-liner in the birthing of applications, my classmates and I naturally wanted our efforts to bear some fruit. Better if the “fruit” came in the form of rectangular pieces of paper with Ninoy’s print and best if it bore the face of Benjamin Franklin.

Then the open-source movement flung apart (pun-intended) the curtains of software development, exposing it to a whole new arena. Unlike the proprietary kind, the code for open-source software was available for viewing and tweaking. Anyone interested in improving the software could go through the code and add his own set of lines. And the best thing was that, the software came free!

Come to think of it, the principle behind open-source software was right before my eyes. Except for the code-spouting geniuses in my class who practically downed Java (not the coffee) with ease, most of us collaborated with each other when it came to codes. If someone figured out an algorithm for this particular function, that heaven-sent individual then shared his code with the rest of us mortals. Sometimes we all tried to come up with the algorithm together, three or four heads huddled over a monitor. That exactly is the way open-source software development is going. It is all about cooperation and putting heads together in order to churn out better quality software that shouldn’t hurt the pocket.

This practice behind open-source software development has added a new dimension to the rules of the game. In the world of proprietary software, the application’s innards are kept under guard, all interested users are supposed to plunk down a good amount of cash for the software and any form of unauthorized use is violative of copyright and intellectual property laws. Copyright in terms of open-source is different. For instance, some open-source software come under a general public license which does not allow applications developed from the code of open-source software to come at a price. The license is used to ensure that the software stays the way it was born into the digital world – free.