Copyleft & Open Source

Today I had the pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by Rob Canning on Open Design, where I learnt about GNU, Free Software, Copyleft and Creative Commons- Open Source Software.

For further information, click on the links below:

GNU is a free Operating System, which was created by Richard Stallman in 1984. GNU provides licenses and promotes all open source software. It allows all users the freedom to redistribute and change GNU software.

GNU:

FREE SOFTWARE:

Free software is the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.

There are four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

1.The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
2.The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to the users needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
3.The freedom to redistribute copies.
4. The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that everyone benefits from it.

COPYLEFT:

Copyleft is a free way of making a program, which requires all modifications, as well as extended versions of the program to be free.

The simplest way to make program free software, is to make it copyrighted. This allows people to share the program and to modify it. Changes can be made and distributed as a free product. These people do not have the freedom that the original author gave them.

Copyleft guarantees that every user has freedom. It encourages programmers
to add to the free software, allowing everyone the right to use, modify and redistribute the program’s code.

Click on the Symbols for more information:

CREATIVE COMMONS:

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation, allowing others to use your work, while still protecting your intellectual property. Creative Commons was invented to create a more flexible copyright model.

It is a great way for people working within the creative industry to legally share ideas and works.

WIKIPEDIA:

Wikipedia is 'the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.' Wikipedia recently changed its licensing structure from the GNU Free Documentation License to a Creative Commons Attribution- Wikimedia commons.

This allows all content to legally flow in and out of the site, enabling the site to legally interact, making it available to the public domain.