Free/Libre and Open Source Software
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A new front in the ever-lasting struggle for social freedom has been opened: it's all about access to knowledge, information and non-material goods. The growth of legislation on monopoly over information (often called Intellectual property Law by some lawyers), threaten to further emphasize the social differences, slow down scientific development, expand monopolization of knowledge and finally concentrate power in the hands of big corporations.
The fact that this non-material segments of production are central to the process of construction of tomorrows “Information society” led to development of legislation which puts the control upon them. Created once to protect and encourage progressive inventions, in the time of digital information that is not exhausted by its use, they became the obstacle to the development process and steel door of a new networked society. By creation of rules in the field of economy of knowledge, rich countries assured constant flow of funds from third world countries. Good case of corporate profit being put over public interest are pharmaceutical industries that use this laws to protect their own profits, while one third of the world's population lacks access to essential drugs. Software commercialisation By the end of the 1980s, the computer software fell well into the academic domain, and practice of exchange inside the hackers' culture excluded the concept of ownership. With the emergence of cheap personal computers and the booming computer mass market, the software started being considered creative work and fell under copyright laws. For the first time, it became possible to own the software and keep it away from the others by exercising copyright laws. This concept was far from the idea of the hacker community, so it developed alternative models of licensing that evolved to what is today known as FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software). The model suggests, initially, that these are similar concepts, but essentially, these are two very different views on freedom of software. Free as in Freedom Free Software initiative, established in 1984 by Richard Stallman, was the first to confront the introduction of copyright laws in the field of software. Treating software as information of public interest, it introduced GNU project and a concept of copyleft whose purpose was to give freedom to the user and restrain containment of a code. The definition provided by the Free Software Foundation states that software is free if it provides to the user four types of freedoms:
One of the most popular licenses for free software is GNU GPL (General Public Licence). Prominent free software programs licensed under the GPL include the Linux operating system and Apache web server, two wheels that run most of the Internet sites. The Open Source initiative, founded in 1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, is similar to the Free Software concept in its pragmatic, but not in the philosophical sense. Their aim is to promote qualitative advantages of open source software and to encourage big software companies to follow this concept, at the same time not accenting philosophical and political aspect of freedom of software. From Free Software to Free Everything We will use and promote our cultural heritage in the public domain. We will make, share, adapt, and promote open content. We will listen to free music, look at free art, watch free film, and read free books. All the while, we will contribute, discuss, annotate, critique, improve, improvise, remix, mutate, and add yet more ingredients into the free culture soup. From the Free Culture manifesto The real revolution started when the idea of freedom slided from free software community to the area of information, culture and education, which brought the topic to the higher level of discourse, so that, together with free software as a framework, we got free content. Hackers joined their forces with all kinds of creative workers: media and video activists, artists, musicians, scientists... to create a bottom-up, participatory structure to society and culture, rather than a top-down, closed, proprietary one. Inspired by GNU GPL, Creative Commons project started in 2001 to build a legal framework for creation and sharing of content, as well as to reduce barriers to creativity. Standing a half way from copyright to copyleft, it gave the authors the right to freely distribute their work, choosing which rights to withold. Free culture movement emphasizes the importance of a possibility to use creative work of the others and our cultural heritage for creativity and innovation. By now, the Creative Commons licenses were fine-tuned to the specifics of legal systems of 15 individual countries, Croatia being the first one in the region. The project is still in progress in 13 countries, with more to follow. Along with this, new licenses are being developed to address specific needs and type of content. The new Developing Nations license allows inviting a wide range of royalty-free uses of your work in developing nations while retaining your full copyright in the developed world. Another license to be launched is Science Commons, whose aim is to encourage scientific innovation by making it easier for scientists, universities, and industries to use literature, data, and other scientific intellectual property and to share their knowledge with others. Where we stand? Legal framework provided by Creative Commons is the missing link, the last piece that was missing in what is an astonishing mosaic of freedom. Many promptly adopted the free culture concept: thousands of people around the world use technology for a new paradigm of creation, one where anyone can be an artist, and anyone can succeed. From the idea to create, share and archive, emerged great resources: Wikipedia, free online encyclopedia; MIT OpenCourseWare - a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners all over the world, provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Internet Archive - a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form; Project Gutenberg – an archive of more than 15,000 books in the public domain; and many, many more. Social software arises: free blogging software is also available to anyone to state his/her opinion, free services as flickr to share photo material, free media to create another kind of information, podcasting services that allow everyone with internet access to build his/her own radio station... Together with human creativity and legal framework, technology finally came to the point where it really makes sense: to empower and give a possibility to speak-up to the multitude of voices, in spite of the control used by powerful corporations, trying to make us bare consumers of the goods they deliver. Bosnia and Herzegovina The application and use of free and open source software in Bosnia and Herzegovina is restricted, for the best part, to the institutions of higher education, the NGO sector, and to some extent, to some public administration offices and institutions. That is the situation as described by the UNDP eReadiness Report. The situation regarding advocacy and promotion of use of FOSS has been restricted to an even smaller number of organizations and individuals. It has to be said that some of these initiatives, such as the Localization (translation) of user interface and applications, the B&H Linux Desktop (BHLD), or the application of Learning Management System by the School of Economy in Sarajevo, are very serious and of higher quality. The Association of Linux Users in B&H, at the moment the most active CSO which works on promotion of use of free software, was established in 1998. They are involved in much more than mere promotion, both alone and in cooperation with other CSOs and higher education institutions (School of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo). Some of the results of their efforts are KDE, GNOME, OpenOffice translations, as well as other projects, such as the BHLD software package, intended for full localization of a Linux desktop, development of education programmes and training material on use of GNU/Linux systems on several levels (user, advanced, administrator, etc...). Croatia Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) first appeared in Croatia in the early 1990s, when several organizations and associations started with a systematic effort to provide the public information on possibilities and advantages of using FOSS. Ever since, free software has been a subject of systematic writing, study and education. Although GNU/Linux is just another computer operating system, a whole movement based on the principles and values arising from the times and conditions in which it was developped has spawned and is related to it. To make the long story short, a lot of work has been done on freedom and availability of resources, solidarity, cooperation and social change. The GNU/Linux distributions are increasingly accessible both to organizations and for individual use, by downoading from the web or through direct copying. The great majority of organizations in Croatia haven't started using the advantages offered by FOSS, due to lack of knowledge and information. On the other hand, GNU/Linux was quickly accepted by the organizations that base their work on media and activism. The faster internet lines and the introduction of broadband internet has contributed to a rising number of users that feel better about GNU/Linux, because of its greater security levels and less problems with computer viruses and infections, their availability and the fact that they come free of charge. Serbia As a part of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia closely followed the global technology trends until the early 1990s. The start of the series of wars has contributed for Serbia to lose several steps, but the contact was not completely lost. Those years were key, in many aspects, to the future development of information technology: the internet appeared, PC technology managed to outweigh the other types of computers for personal use, GNU got the core for its operating system – Linux. The infrastructure was the foundation for the emergence of several free software related movements in Serbia. For quite some time the most important gathering place for free-software users was the mail list at the linux.org.yu domain. Then, other, alternative means of communication appeared (Elitesecurity, today the most popular site of its kind), but also the first organizations: OSNY and LinuxFEST, Uliks, Internodium. Finally, we ought to mention here the growing community joining Wikipedia in Serbian, as well as the other South-Slavic Languages Kosovo In Post-War Kosovo, the usage of computers has increased rapidly. It was because of the global trend in use of Information & Communication Technology, and because of extensive investment and funding provided both locally and internationally. Nowadays, the computer equipment is widely accessible in most of government institutions, but also in business and education sector. The usage at home users is also respectable, especially in urban areas. Also the Local ICT Industry has made the significant advancements. The products of Kosovar companies and individuals mainly have been the customized and specialized software. In spite of these optimistic signs, the mainstream software is in English language. It consists of the Productivity Software: Text Processors, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Drawing Applications. Similar trends are also in Albania. The OpenOffice.org have been identified as very attractive and good choice, in promoting Free and OpenSource Software in Kosova, Albania and wider. Macedonia Let's start this introduction in the situation in Macedonia with a number of facts: 1. Macedonian Government, on December 3rd 2003, signed a "strategic agreement" with Microsoft Corporation. This deal will last for four years and includes strengthening of legal protections on intellectual property, complete legalization of the software used by the Government, and Microsoft's investment of $ 6 Million in the country, via localization of their products into Macedonian and Albanian language, and transfer of technological and business know-how to 20 chosen Macedonian companies. 2. Macedonia is at the bottom of the European list of IT users. Only 4.7% of the population are internet users. 3. The "National development strategy for IT society", prepared by the National Task-force, consisted of governmental, NGO and UNDP representatives, should give the basic development tools by the end of 2007. The Free and Open Source Software is relatively new phenomenon in Macedonia. Its application is unfortunately restricted to individuals and NGO Sector. The only reason for this situation is lack of knowledge and information. Fortunately for us, the awarenes of the NGOs is the driving force in the "campaign" for use of free and open source software. Several organizations in Macedonia, like Sloboden Softver Makedonija, MaNGO and Metamorfozis are main promoters of the idea. Acording to Sloboden Softver Makedonija, the "free and open source software" is a question of liberty, not a question of cost. Free software is ability of the consumers to use, copy, distribute, change and improve the product. To have freedom to use a "program" means that every individual or organisation can use it on every computer, for any kind of work, without a need of authorization of any kind of entity. The NGOs were the only one protesting against the agreement between the Government and Microsoft, because of the following reasons: this proprietary software can not be copied, distributed or developed; in this manner it stops the informational development of the country. Their recommendation is that the open-source software should be overlooked from the "National development strategy for IT society", if not for previously mentioned benefits, than for the fact that is simply cheaper. The strategy should also take into consideration the fact that according UNESCO, the open-source software is already a part of the global cultural heritage. Albania The data of the need assessment that QKE implemented last year shows:
All the factors listed above have induced certain "apathy" in the exchange of information. The use of non-licensed software is common in Albania, since the dealers of computers install them in the computers they sale. This act has made the Free and Open Source Software to pass as an unappreciated possibility. The comments of the computer dealers on these programs are that they are difficult to use and to understand. They don’t have the sufficient knowledge for those. Only in web pages development are used FOSS scripts. The most common are scripts for uploading photo galleries, mainly used by youth organizations. The lack of implementation of the legislation has provided the opportunity for piracy to take over and fulfil the needs for programs and information in Albania. Only by now “ex-pirates” who wants to protect the programs they produced by using pirate programs take steps. Anyway this can be marked as a firs step to the usage of FOSS, since they try to get free software from Internet and spread them in their networks. Electronic exchange of information fulfils the above-mentioned criteria and the use of this means of communication has lead to co-operation between NGOs. Electronic post is the most important tool in the exchange of information. It provides a fast, simple and low cost way of sending information. In Albania a nation-wide information system does not exist and in most cases information is given through NGO activities or only once the problems have become very serious. |
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