Fernando Cavalcanti / Campus Party under CC-BY-NC-SA licence
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Digital Planet goes to the Campus Party Brasil 2011
Campus Party Brasil 2011: The interviews
campuspartybrasil under CC-BY-SA licence
Digital Planet went to the 2011 Campus Party Brasil, and took the chance to listen to some provocative thinkers and their views on openness. Read more : Campus Party Brasil 2011: The interviews
Study Linux: An Introduction
NathanaelB under CC-BY-NC-ND licence
Get an understanding of the open source operating system - and take a step towards getting a qualification. Read more : Study Linux: An Introduction
Study My Digital Life
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Learn about tomorrow's technology; help to build tomorrow's technology with this online survival kit for the 21st Century. Read more : Study My Digital Life
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Open Source misses the point of free software.
So many things wrong with this interview, I'll pick at various points.
The Open Source movement spawned from the Free Software movement. Think of the latter as a development methodology and free software as a social movement. Open source advocates want good software, free software advocates want ethical software.
Linux is not an operating system, it is a kernel. What many people refer to as 'Linux' is infact GNU/Linux. The GNU project set out to make a free operating system, the kernel known as Linux was the final piece.
I also find it ironic that this interview is in the MP3 file format, which is patented and not free.
Overloaded terms...
I think that references in the first part of the interview are made in the sense of 'little-o' open source software as in the "open" availability of the source code, rather than in the sense of openly licensed software produced through an open source development model. I thought the notion of free as in freedom to do what you will with the code came across quite clearly too? It's just a pain that in the current legal situation, we can only guarantee freedom to use software through the assertion of copyright, and then relaxing the rights copyright affords through an open license.
On one of your other points, I take the view that "open-source" software can mean slightly different things depending on emphasis/context. On the one hand, it refers to the availability of source code under an open license. On the other, it refers to a software development process in which peer review and contribution can potentially play an important role in improving the quality of the software. Note that a lot of software that is released as open source was developed by a closed team, before its release under an open license. In a lot of other cases (small projects), on a single maintainer ever develops the code, but the fact that it is open keeps them honest.
As to the Linux kernel - it is referred to as the Linux kernel in the context of Android at least... :-)
PS with respect to the interview being released as an MP3 - I find this ironic too, but I suspect it's as much a case of maximising ease of use/potential reach as anything....