Revolution OS – Story about Open Source


Download Article as PDF


I know that recently I recomanded few movies, and I should write here something smart, but here goes another recomandation to movie called Revolution OS. I have to admit that I heard about the movie in one news article where it was mentioned as the oldest currently active torrent on Pirate Bay. So I had to check it.

It is a documentary about Free Software, Open Source movements, Linux and other surrounding projects. People starting this movements and project explaining why and how they started, what was the mothives and what is the philosophy around it. So surly if you don’t know much about this movements, it is defenetly good source. If you have reasoning how people can live writing free and open source software, you will find here the answer. Main goal of this word free means that it gives you freedom, but not freedom in terms like free beers, but in terms like freedom of speech. You may share or modify code and redistribute it how you wish. Share your improvements if you wish etc.

Also you will hear some explanations from author of Open Source Definition and his 10 freedoms:

1. Free Redistribution

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

2. Source Code

The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

3. Derived Works

The license must allow modifications and derived works, and it must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

4. Integrity of the Author’s Source Code

The license may restrict source code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of “patch files” with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.

5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or

from being used for genetic research.

7.Distribution of License

The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program’s being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program’s license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.

9.License Must Not Restrict Other Software

The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example,the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open source software.

10.License Must Be Technology-Neutral

No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

Also there is a lot said about Linux and how it fit into GNU project’s gap. And at the end you will hear about some IPO successful storys of Linux related companies which stock prices rised more that 10 times in first day.

So here is Revolution OS movie:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjaC8Pq9-V0]

I will finish this with qoute from the end of the movie, where Richard Stallman, man who started it all with Free Software Foundation and GNU project said:

The whole GNU project is really one big hack.It’s one big act of subversive playful cleverness, to change society for better, because I am only interested in changing it for better, but in a clever way.

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, lived in Belgrade, Serbia, now living in Manchester, UK, and visitng the world. Nikola is a great enthusiast of AI, natural language processing, machine learning, web application security, open source, mobile and web technologies. Looking forward to create future. Nikola has done PhD in natural language processing and machine learning at the University of Manchester where he worked for 2 years. In 2020, Nikola moved to Berlin and works in Bayer Pharma R&D as a computational scientist.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *