44 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
44 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
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---
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tags: [history, ecopolsoc, FOSS]
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created: Thursday, March 27, 2025
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---
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# d212acdb_from_free-software_to_open_source
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For the decade or so after Stallman's "Initial Announcement" of GNU in 1983,
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free software and the philosophy behind it remained the preserve of the
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technical underground. During these years, the phrase "open source" did not
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exist.
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Many engineers were using and contributing to free software in their free-time
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and surreptitiously using it in the corporate context but there was little
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awareness of it amongst the business class. If they did know about GNU-Linux
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they did not see it as a viable alternative to proprietary software, due to the
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lack of licensing, customer support and the misapprehension that the product
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would be inferior.
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The turning point came when
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[Netscape](./c301a0b3-1d8_Mosaic_Netscape_and_Browser_Wars.md), in a last ditch
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effort to resist Microsoft's obliteration of their market, made their
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source-code open. This caught the attention of the corporate class and the
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additional media attention led to a greater interest amongst capitalists
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generally.
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They quickly surmised that this could be an avenue of profit maximisation:
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free-labour, no licensing costs etc. As part of this process, free software was
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rebranded as "open source", all the better to calm investors' worries about its
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socialistic flavour having misread "free" as meaning "for no cost".
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Interestingly Microsoft publicly disparaged Linux and free software generally in
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public but an employee leaked internal memoranda which showed them to be most
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concerned. They led a vigorous PR campaign of disinformation about free
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software, tying it to the emerging phenomenon of "illegal file sharing". This
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was propitious timing, as it coincided with the passing of the DMCA (Digital
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Millennium Copyright Act) in the United States which introduced punitive
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punishment for those caught distributing proprietary media and software.
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So this is really the origin of hackers' antipathy to Microsoft and it's
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interesting to reflect on this today where Microsoft has very effectively
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subsumed "open source" into itself, realising it couldn't beat it on its own
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terms. Most notably with their acquisition of GitHub.
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