First, I am a heavy user of the open-source softwares, including Linux, Apache, and Moodle. Last year, I just developed the interest in building up server due to a friend of mine who has been teaching management information system for more than ten years. I installed Apache on my computers myself and connected to mypage server(welcome: http://mypage.iu.edu/~linji/) via putty. And, those open-source softwares are very convenient for me to store the data and immediately show my friends photos taken on campus no matter where they are. In the past, however, I have never thought about where these softwares come from; in other words, it seems to me that I am supposed to download them at no cost. It wasn’t until this semester that I begin to realize the importance of the development of open-source softwares in American, China, Taiwan, and elsewhere.
What are the advantages of the development of opens-source softwares? According to the technical evaluation report in China, the reasons included lower cost, benefits to the local industry, and cultural and political reasons; interestingly, distrust of American imperialism was also included. The free use of softwares, as far as I am concerned, may be the most important to the citizens who get used to using private softwares. China, however, hasn’t done well so far in developing their own information industry, especially in eucation-related open-source sofewares, partly because the development focuses on technical skills and distribution of softwares. Moreover, China scholars use the term Localization to implicitly describe that they just develop their own open-source softwares by simply modifying western.
Apache Software Foundation (ASF), supporting the open-source softwares movements, has developed serveral rules for protecting the copyrights of peer production and sharing. ASF also authored the Apache License for preservation of the copyright. Take one of my favorite servers as example, apache server has been released under the Apache License. The original spirit of open-source is that, in fact, people who are capable of modifing the source code of software program could devote themselves to making the programs better in order to meet people’s certain needs. At the same time, the distribution of the extension of open-source softwares should be taken into consideration based on the “openness”. As a result, following the rules of open-source, you should provide people with both your original and derived source codes. On the other hand, if you made efforts to successfully achieve others goals people will appreciate what you did for them; in other words, this is called gift culture in which people are motivated to do others a favor.
Furthermore, when it comes to the share, we can offer any information we want to share on the Internet. Yochai Benkler, for instance, professor at havard law school, presents networked information economy that we are capable of distributing, producting information by decetralized individual action without depending on market strategies. Perhaps, there was a debate about whether the networked information economy threatens the current proprietor-like regulatory structure. As far as I am concerned, on the one hand, proprietary production could make the software more stable and reliable, as it takes responsibility for the product whenever users have difficulties or problems of using it (Kapor, 2005). For example, Who will be helping me solve the problem as I use Photoshop? Of course, Adobe. because I paid for it. Peer production, on the other hand, like the open source software should continually be supported, because it could uphold the spirit and freedom of sharing and improving the product within the community for no cost, and it could also satisfy learners' futher educational needs through self-selected, decentralized individual actions.
What are the advantages of the development of opens-source softwares? According to the technical evaluation report in China, the reasons included lower cost, benefits to the local industry, and cultural and political reasons; interestingly, distrust of American imperialism was also included. The free use of softwares, as far as I am concerned, may be the most important to the citizens who get used to using private softwares. China, however, hasn’t done well so far in developing their own information industry, especially in eucation-related open-source sofewares, partly because the development focuses on technical skills and distribution of softwares. Moreover, China scholars use the term Localization to implicitly describe that they just develop their own open-source softwares by simply modifying western.
Apache Software Foundation (ASF), supporting the open-source softwares movements, has developed serveral rules for protecting the copyrights of peer production and sharing. ASF also authored the Apache License for preservation of the copyright. Take one of my favorite servers as example, apache server has been released under the Apache License. The original spirit of open-source is that, in fact, people who are capable of modifing the source code of software program could devote themselves to making the programs better in order to meet people’s certain needs. At the same time, the distribution of the extension of open-source softwares should be taken into consideration based on the “openness”. As a result, following the rules of open-source, you should provide people with both your original and derived source codes. On the other hand, if you made efforts to successfully achieve others goals people will appreciate what you did for them; in other words, this is called gift culture in which people are motivated to do others a favor.
Furthermore, when it comes to the share, we can offer any information we want to share on the Internet. Yochai Benkler, for instance, professor at havard law school, presents networked information economy that we are capable of distributing, producting information by decetralized individual action without depending on market strategies. Perhaps, there was a debate about whether the networked information economy threatens the current proprietor-like regulatory structure. As far as I am concerned, on the one hand, proprietary production could make the software more stable and reliable, as it takes responsibility for the product whenever users have difficulties or problems of using it (Kapor, 2005). For example, Who will be helping me solve the problem as I use Photoshop? Of course, Adobe. because I paid for it. Peer production, on the other hand, like the open source software should continually be supported, because it could uphold the spirit and freedom of sharing and improving the product within the community for no cost, and it could also satisfy learners' futher educational needs through self-selected, decentralized individual actions.
Yeah, that's a dilemma between being entirely open to the public and taken into account by specific ones. The former makes the sharing of nice resources possible, and the latter ensures a stable use of software. It conforms to the economics: you should accept the flaws of free things; you will get equivalent services when you pay for it.
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