Open source software like Github is taking the world by storm. In fact, the Octoverse 2022 State of Open Source Report shows that more than 90% of the Lucky 500 companies use open source software as the foundation of their digital spaces and services.
In today’s post, we’ll delve into the history of open source software and how it attracted the most important professional players around the world. This article also explores its relationship to proprietary software and the pros and cons of such software.
History of open source software
Source code is a form of software that can be read by humans – given the right skills. This form of communication has been around since the 1950s, and as you’ll quickly see, most software starts as open source (OSS).
Creators of early compilers and operating software distributed their creations as part of hardware purchases in the 1950s and 1960s. Institutions and organizations also make changes and fixes to distributed software without privatizing their changes. A large fraction of original human-readable software innovations are free and open source, and are shared and distributed as software in the public domain. the reason is simple.
Before the tech giants, most software was developed for and by teaching institutions. These types of institutions have historically placed greater emphasis on knowledge sharing than any form of monopoly over the industry. Universities are so committed to open source software that some even have a policy to ensure that all software running on their computers comes with published source code files. In the era of software development in academia, open source was considered king.
By the late 1960s, the cost of software production had increased rapidly with the development of programming language compilers and operating systems. As far as hardware is concerned, the work of creating software is becoming more and more expensive. While hardware manufacturers run after their own in-house software, the software ecosystem is changing. This was the beginning of the software industry.
A major shift occurred in 1969 in the case of the United States versus IBM. The case is based on antitrust grounds. The government has hinted that companies already providing software alongside their hardware at no extra cost is creating a monopoly over the software. Basically, big companies with free software bundled with their hardware, are ruining the fun of all software developers.
This lawsuit laid the groundwork for companies to start developing software that end users could install and use, but not modify. At the very least, users could not distribute modified versions like today and before 1969. However, innovations like the EULA (end user license agreement) have yet to take their final form. In fact, prior to 1974, although the software was no longer allowed to be redistributed and modified, it was also not protected under any copyright laws. It’s been a strange time for software and its developers. But that all changed in 1974 when more laws were enacted.
In 1974, the United States Commission on New Uses of Technology (CONTU), which was still in its infancy, decided that because software technically represented an individual’s original creation such as as the author, the software must be protected under copyright law. Here’s the actual quote: “Computer programs, to the extent they represent the author’s original creation, are the appropriate subject of copyright.”
While this decision is significant, it is not until Apple gets involved that software is protected like literary works. In the Apple-Franklin case, the court’s decision essentially created the closed-source software industry we know today. The decision to give software the same titles and copyright protections as literary works led to software licenses – like EULAs – that we have to read before we install something these days.
After the 1980s, many other laws went into effect to better protect software from what developers felt was the illegal distribution and handling of their source code.
State of Open Source Software
This year, Octoverse published a report on GitHub detailing the current state of open source software. The report’s findings suggest that open source software isn’t just on the rise again; it’s taking over the industry.
Wolfgang Gehring, Mercedes-Benz FOSS technology innovation ambassador, echoed the report’s findings, saying: “Today, you cannot develop software without using open source code.”
The 2022 report is essentially a sequel to the first Octoverse report, published in 2012. The first report was written to celebrate the 2.8 million people who joined GitHub. From the perspective of the open source software community, GitHub now has more than 94 million developers who are shaping the future of open source software. This represents a significant increase between 2012 and 2022.
Nine is indeed an interesting recurring number in the 2022 report; GitHub has over 94 million users, over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Github, and 90% of companies were found to use open source software. The only number that doesn’t include the number 9 is 413 million open source contributions in 2022. In terms of the rapid and widespread adoption of open source software, this report is absolutely astounding.
But why do so many people seem to choose open source software over its closed source (proprietary) alternatives? What is the difference between these two concepts? Why was open source software considered the way forward when so much work was done to secure software in the 60s, 70s, and 80s?
Advantages of open source software
Cost effective
Open source software is completely free to use. You can download, install or use the software without paying. You don’t even have to pay to edit or redistribute it. Completely free and open source software. This is an advantage for any business looking for a low-budget software solution.
Reliable
Using open source software usually implies a higher level of trust. Basically, the fact that OSS is developed as a kind of free team project where anyone with the necessary skills can contribute, your work on a specific feature has an advantage over closed source. As a result, people with the right skills from around the world can contribute to projects that are often highly credible. That way, you also have a large pool of developers available to fix bugs and prevent exploits.
flexible
If you look at software like Blender, an open source computer graphics software, you’ll notice that the download site states that you can change the software to suit your needs. This means that if the original software doesn’t meet your standards, doesn’t have a specific feature set, or is too complicated to use, you can change it. This is what open source brings.
Disadvantages of Open Source Software
Limiting the audience of users
Because open source software is created by developers with the intention that other developers can change the code, it sometimes makes sense only for developers. This greatly reduces the efficiency of the software as the user pool will be greatly reduced.
Security
Unfortunately, since the software is free and open source to anyone with editing expertise, you run into a considerable security risk. You see, not everyone with the expertise necessary to edit software is interested in doing so for the greater good. Some people with coding experience would rather use their skills to create bugs in open source software that they can exploit for profit. However, the reality is that an open source project tends to have many developers involved, so the chances of bugs being found and fixed are higher.
Support
With open source software, there is rarely only one person responsible for writing the code. Therefore, when something goes wrong, it can be difficult to find who is responsible for the error or vulnerability. There is also the risk of users not having access to the kind of dedicated software-enabled network that often comes with proprietary software.
The future of OSS
According to the Octoverse 2022 report, open source software is the trend of the moment. But does this type of software have what it takes to be the portal of the future?
In fact, many aspects of modern computing and information technology are already based on open source architectures. Your phone runs on the open source software Android. If you have a Xiaomi, your phone will run a tweaked version of Android called MIUI.
If you use OPPO, your phone will run open-source software called ColorOS — also based on Android.
The browser you use, whether it’s Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Brave, is based on Chromium, an open source software developed by Google. In fact, the few names that aren’t open source companies are Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Adobe. Much of the current digital ecosystem is based on open source software, including cloud computing. OSS forms the foundation of our current society and will likely bring us into the next generation of the digital landscape.
Open source software has significant advantages over its alternatives and is likely the way forward. However, as mentioned above, there are some important issues that must be addressed before fully relying on this particular software architectural configuration.