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Radically
Simple Linux for the non-geek! |
Part Two:
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There are so many motivations as to why computer code may end up as OpenSource. I'm going to pot some histories and generalise a little. If you want more accurate histories have a search on the net, this is just an outline.
Imagine you're a big company, specialising in business computers, not all PC (x86) type, running different Operating Systems. You own the rights to an office suite, a really powerful one at that, but with an awful user interface. So bad, that it virtually stops anyone working with it. You can't even give it away (remember StarOffice 5.x on coverdisks anyone?). So what you do, you make it Open Source. You change the licensing so that anyone can see the code, work on it, add bits, and you even fund the work on it, whilst taking in additional help from the OpenSource community. Step forward OpenOffice. So what do Sun Microsystems get out of this? Well they have better source code which can be compiled across all the different computers they deal with. They don't have to pay huge amounts to Microsoft to use MS Office. And as a Hardware and Systems company, they can build a package on top of it, which is why Star Office is still out there. Star Office = Open Office + Extra Features + Support. So the world gets a great, free, Office Suite, and Sun gets a product which competes with MS Office and which they can do with what they do best: sell support.
Imagine you want to make a simple program to set out text
and graphics accurately on a page, as in Desk Top Publishing. You know
a little programming so you make it, just for yourself, rather than
spend a fortune on one of the big hitters. It's good but could be
better. So you release it on the internet under open source terms.
Before you know it, you are collaborating with people from all over the
world, giving their time for nothing, building a DTP program with power
to rival the big hitters you initally couldn't afford. This is more or
less the background to Scribus.There are the guys that work for the big software companies, some of them can command huge salaries and short hours. However, in many cases a pride in their work stops them feeling happy about what they do. Because their employers insist on putting out programs before they are ready, without the proper quality control, like everything else these days, bean counters and targets. A lot of those guys like to give something back in their own time, they like to be involved in something where they are not under commercial pressure to meet deadlines, but can just put something out when it's right, and in doing so, feel they've actually earned their salaries. You even have companies that save so much by using Open Source that they employ people who don't really do a great deal apart from go off and work on Open Source projects. Indeed, with the real "top players" in the OpenSource world, it can be quite a status symbol for a company to have one of these guys on the payroll, even if they do little for the company!
These examples are by no means exhaustive.
General Public License
As you can see, there are a number of reasons that OpenSource projects start. Little hobbies that grow, up to people paid by big firms to do their thing. And much inbetween. And because it's OpenSource, other programmers can add bits to improve programmes further. The outcome is that OpenSource code, far from being inferior to its commercial cousin, can be just as good and is often better. Having access to the source has other benefits, too. You know the lady behind the lace curtain who has her eyes on everything in your street? Well the OpenSource world has a much better use for busybodies. Look through the code, and if someone has left a "back door" in it, that someone could exploit to take over your computer, they'll be dialling 999 and asking for the code police. Well actually they'll be reporting the error back to the project. In practice, Linux and OpenSource programmes have far fewer errors in than commercial, closed source software. And all thanks to the curtain twitchers!!
But how is all this free stuff protected? Why doesn't someone walk off, claim it as their own and copyright it? Well a number of licenses have been devised to protect OpenSource code, the most common of which is the GPL, General Public License.
You want to read it? Here it is! Or in layman's terms, if someone writes something and releases it under the GPL, anyone can see the source code, anyone can use the source code, but if they base further work on said source code, that must also be released under GPL. OK there are other bits as well, and loads of legalese, but it's brilliant in its simplicity isn't it?
Strangely enough, the fact that something is OpenSource makes it free as in free speech, but not necessarily free as in without cost. But if the source code is out there where anyone can see it, you'd have a hard time charging money for a programme if you were "only" flogging it. As Linux is a great system for running servers, big networks, etc, many companies can make money out of Linux, not by just flogging a disk, but for giving real practical ongoing support on mission critical systems. Step forward Red Hat!
So Where does PCLinuxOS Fit Into all This?
Well there are loads of programs that make up a complete Operating System, from the Linux Kernel (that is, the bit right at the centre of the Operating System that connects programs to your hardware), to the Graphics systems and Window Managers, to the Programs that you use day to day. As anyone who ever experienced DLL hell in Windows will know, get incompatible versions try to run together, and you're in trouble!
Linux is different. As nearly all the programs are OpenSource, they can be recompiled with little tweaks made to ensure that all the programs within a distribution are concurrent with each other, and that shared libraries do not conflict. Putting programs for a particular distro together, so the user can just download what they want and add it without any grief, is called "packaging". The "main man" behind PCLinuxOS, known as Texstar, is a great packager. He was doing unofficial packaging for Mandriva back when it was still called Mandrake, before he started work on his own distro. His packages were very popular amongst Mandrake users (at the time, this one included). He took on the concept of the Live CD when others were not interested, deciding that the "ordinary", non-geek user of Linux might want a disk they can put in their computer, run right off the CD, have a play, check if their hardware is compatible, and if it was all OK and they liked it, install it.
Although other Linux distros have now taken on the LiveCD concept, it is PCLinuxOS which has always been one step ahead when answering this crucial question: how can we make it easy for someone who's never done Linux before? It's all very well having all that OpenSource software out there that anyone can use, but how to put it all together for an end user? That's the question that PCLinuxOS answers.
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