Free software

Free software is defined as software, which can be copied, studied and modified without restriction. Freedom from such restrictions is central to the concept of free software.
Open source and free software refer to the same program or source code, but each term represents a different emphasis on the important of freedom (free software) and technical progress (open source).

“Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985. He introduced a "free software" definition and "copyleft", designed to ensure software freedom for all. [1] Some reacted strongly against Stallman's position as idealistic nonsense and he was strongly mocked and criticised. Present day — Free Software is a highly successful international effort, producing software used by individuals, large organisations, and even entire countries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software)

Free software:
- GNU/Linux, BSD
- Programming languages: Perl, PHP, Ruby.
- Mozilla, Firefox
- MediaWiki, the software that runs WikiPedia

Linux – This is the best example of open source and free software.

MediaWiki – This is software packaged under the GNU General Public License, it is written in PHP with other aspects. It was originally written for Wikipedia by a German student.

Firefox is a free, open source, cross platform, graphical web browser developed by
Mozilla Company. Firefox has become one of the most downloaded free and open source applications, especially with home users. The Floss community forced them to change their name from Firebird, which is used by another company to mozilla firefox.

Php is a free, open source programming language used mainly for developing dynamic web content. PHP offers lots of interaction with database management systems such as MySQL, IBM DB2, SQLite, and runs on many operating systems, Linux, Microsoft, Mac OS X.

Open source software

Open source- Software whose source code is published and made available to the public, which enables anyone to copy, modify and distribute the source code.
Some examples of open source are – Linux, Eclipse, web server and mozilla.

“The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits.
Open Source Initiative exists to make this case to the commercial world.” (Quote from: http://www.opensource.org/)

There is open source software as well as open software hardware, they are both similar, as there initial software is made available to the public, who can copy, modify, and redistribute without paying royalties or fees.

Mozilla is open source software, which was released in 1998, by the Netscape under an open source license. The suite was well known as the open source base of the Netscape suite, which became the base for many stand-alone applications such as firefox.

Linux is an operating system, which was created by student as a hobby, the first version he created was Linux Kernel, was developed and released under the GNU General Public License and the source code is free to anyone. There have since been many companies and people whom have created operating programmed based on this system.
At first Linux was dismissed as unsuitable for general use, but as programmers developed programs like mozilla, people became more aware of its capabilities. Now it is used by people both in the home and office, and can be easily booted from a cd, which contains everything, you need to run Linux and no installation is needed.

Designer who use/develop open source software

Casey Reas and Ben Fry - Processing.org/

* "Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound. It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain." (processing.org)

* Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas . Processing evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.

Ben Fry

* Received his doctoral degree from MIT media laboratory, his research there focused on visualizing large amounts of data from dynamic information sources.

* Work shown at Whitney Biennial in 2002, Copper Hewitt Design Triennial in 2003, as well as the Museum of Modern art in New York.

* he developed Processing with Casey Reas an open source programming environment for teching computational design and sketching interactive media software, that won a golden Nica in 2005.

Casey Reas

* After graduating reas began to exhibit his software and installations internationally in galleries and festivals.

* In august 2001 he moved to Italy as one of the founding professors at the interaction design institute ivrea, simultaneously reas initiated Processing with Ben Fry.

* An environment for people who want to program images, animation and sound.

* Reas moved back to LA and became an assistant professor in the department of design/ media arts at UCLA.

* "As an artist, Reas is employing ideas explored in conceptual and minimal artworks as focused through the contemporary lens of software. Reas' software and images are derived from short text instructions explaining processes which define networks. The instructions are expressed in different media including natural language, machine code, computer simulations, and static images. Each translation reveals a different perspective on the process and combines with the others to form a more complete representation." (from: http://reas.com/biocv.php)

FLOSS - assignment

‘The phrase Free/Libre/Open-Source Software, or FLOSS is an inclusive term designed to be
neutral when referring to both free software and open source software.’
[Wikipedia 09.02.2006]


Essay [1000 words]
In around 1,000 words, discuss FLOSS. Illustrate your essay and make reference to a number of
artists/designers who use/develop free and open software tools. Consider the differences between
the consumer and the developer of software. How are these differences changed by FLOSS?

Digital artifacts and technical commentary [500 words]
The project requires that you complete a number of digital experiments. The playground is to be
PureData [pd]. Use OSX and/or Linux versions of pd. Linux [pure:dyne] is the most powerful version
and essential for working with pdp.

Make a series of patches that explore the following:-
Interactive 3D objects [Gem] [OSX or Linux]
Networked visual media [pure data packets - pdp] [Linux]
You will be expected to document and illustrate the development of your experiments, in around 500
words. With the networked media you can, of course, work in collaboration with others [your documentation
cannot be shared, however].

All patches/abstractions are to be available as download files from the website. Archive your
patches, media and help files in logically organised and self contained .zip files.

Project Website
All of the elements of this project will be presented in a website [on CD only]. You will be assessed
on the design of this site.