Open Source Software

Carol Nichols & Rob Wierzbowski

Goals

• Know what Open Source Software is
• Know why it's important to you
• Show you lots of cat pictures

What is OSS?

I write some code

that solves

a problem.

Instead of keeping it

to myself...

I give it away for free!

WHYYY???

Recipes vs Restaurants

• Read
• Use
• Modify
• Share

The benefits of sharing

outweigh the benefits of

keeping things private.

Examples?

Open Source

• Operating Systems (Linux)
• Applications (Firefox)
• Programming Languages (Ruby, PHP)
• CMS/Frameworks (Wordpress, Ruby on Rails)
• Small libraries (jQuery plugins, Ruby gems)

Closed Source

• Operating Systems (Windows, OSX*)
• Applications (Internet Explorer, Photoshop)
• Programming Languages (.NET)
• CMS/Frameworks (Posterous)

Why should you care?

Don't have to reinvent the wheel

Makes your company stronger

Wordpress vs

posterous.com

Warm fuzzies

Exposure

Downsides

Support

Licenses

Community/People problems

Discussion

Takeaways

Sharing!

Built on OSS

OSS makes you stronger

OSS Philosophy is the future.

That's just the way it is.