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| State of Linux Distros |
What is open source? Open source is software made freely
available to everyone in the world! The source code can be
modified and distributed by anyone under
the same terms as the license of the original software. Usually open source
software is developed not by a company but as a collaborative project amongst
the public. It’s amazing that people across the world put in their time and
effort for free software to be enjoyed by everyone. There is open source
software equivalent to nearly all the proprietary software, i.e.
LibreOffice and
OpenOffice = Microsoft
Office,
Thunderbird
= Microsoft Outlook. Other open source software I would recommend:
Wireshark,
HandBrake,
GIMP,
phpMyAdmin,
Dev-C++,
Notepad++, and
more with
descriptions. Using open source software has saved people about
$60 billion. The problem with open source is that most of them are not for
a regular user, you need to have decent understanding of computers. Proprietary
software has a business behind them and has money to advertise but open source
software tends to be hidden and you have to know which ones are safe.
I enjoy downloading
all types of software, except viruses, and play around with them. Open source
makes that much easier since I don’t have to pay. My favorite open source
software are the Linux distributions. The Linux distros are nearly all open
source and all the software that comes with the Linux operating systems are
open source. You can hit two birds with one stone. The Linux distros are set up
for different types of uses. General distros include
Ubuntu and
Linux
Mint, multimedia centric distros include
Arch Linux and
ArtistX, and there are advanced distros
like
BackTrack. Linux is even being pushed out on mobile phones. Take a look at
more options:
Linux
Distros. They all have interesting open source software built into them for
all types of uses. I just recently installed BackTrack on my computer to mess
around with it since it’s made specifically for information security. A bit
complicated currently but soon I’ll get it figured out.
Wow, I did not know open source software has saved $60 billion dollars! I love open source software as well, and I actually haven't heard of the ones you recommended. I looked through every single one and found HandBrake to be extremely useful. I have been looking for something like this that's free, since most video transcoders are not. So thanks for that! I've heard of some Linux distributions but not BackTrack. It definitely sounds great for information security.
ReplyDeleteAfter finish reading your article, I think I have same agreements like you. As we know, open source has provide a lot of benefits for our learning. The open source's platform give us a lot convenience as a application user. The best open source I like is linux. The reason is 0 cost, stability and security. Also in the open source, if you find some bugs, you can just fix them by yourself, do not need original author to fix them. As a programmer, I believe that better we know more useful open source, it is more advantages we have to get a job. In your post, you have answered that question very well. You have discussed some of the great points in your post, and as a reader to further investigate on different fields in open source.
ReplyDeleteSlight factual error: You mentioned "The source code can be modified and distributed by anyone under the same terms as the license of the original software" - it only needs to be the same terms if the orginal project uses a so-called "copyleft" license. There are also "permissive" licenses, where the source code can be distributed in any terms the author likes, or even used in closed source products, such as how Apple uses Webkit code in Safari and iOS. You find it interesting to look up more on that topic.
ReplyDeleteApart from that, it's a pretty good blog post. I don't think CS100W students have posted enough of their personal experiences, and reading yours was a nice change of pace.