Jan 4, 2005

22 slide

Enrico Zini <enrico@debian.org>

Another way of thinking software

What I'll be talking about

Thinking software as knowledge

Cases that show some results of this thinking

Software as a product

You buy it once and you run it until it breaks

When it breaks, you buy the new version

You can use it, and only use it

You cannot give it to your friends

It crashes, and there's nothing you can do

Apart from creating software from scratch, you can only work with existing ones

What is the difference?

Spaghetti al sugo

Serves 4 people.

Ingredients:

300gr durum wheat spaghetti

400gr tomato sauce

extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion

salt, pepper, fresh basel leaves

Boil the water, then add salt and the spaghetti. In another pan, stir-fry the onion in olive oil until it starts becoming yellow, then add the tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Lower the fire and simmer until the sauce becomes thicker. When spaghetti are cooked "al dente", dry them and add the sauce. Serve with a fresh basel leaf.

Internet firewall

Protects one network.

Ingredients:

External interface: ppp0.

Internal interface: eth0.

Allow all packets to get from eth0 to ppp0.

If a packet arrives in ppp0 as a response to a previous connection, pass it to eth0.

If a packet arrives in ppp0 for port 80, forward it to the web server machine.

Else, drop all packets arriving from ppp0.

What if recipes were products?

You cook the same food every day, with the exact same taste

When you are bored with it, you buy a new recipe

You can't change the way you cook

You can't talk with your friends about cooking

If the rice is overcooked, it will always be overcooked

Software as knowledge

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.

The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.

The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.

The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

Free Software works like knowledge. It is defined by 4 freedoms:

You can copy it legally, without being a "pirate"

It is copyright protected

Software as a recipe

If you don't like it, you change it

You can discuss about cooking with your friends

You can exchange recipes and improvements with your friends

It changes as your tastes change

If it breaks, you fix it, or you get someone to fix it

If the rice comes out too cooked, next time you cook it less

You can open a restaurant

You can create software, sell it, and also sell improvements and customizations

Free Software as an alphabet

Non parlerò di un prodotto.

Parlerò di un Patrimonio Mondiale.

Parlerò di un Alfabeto.

Some examples

A cooks network: Debian GNU/Linux

16302 "packages" (programs, code libraries, documentation...)

920 volunteer developers from 50 different nations

11 supported architectures

Open self-organised community with constitution, elections, votes...

Infrastructure dedicated to community services and groupwork

10 years old

Problem: it's BIG.

So big that we begun developing "custom" versions as subsets for specific needs.

data collected on Dec 29, 2004

Projeto Software Livre Brasil

E-Extremadura

Skolelinux

Started in Norway in 2001, then merged with Debian-Edu.

3 years later, in various reports: "the only computer solution that takes the schools' needs and resources seriously" (Statskonsult report #18, Dec 2003)

The Italian OpenOffice.org Thesaurus

Ubuntu

"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others".

Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we all are".

The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.	(from www.ubuntulinux.org)

TiVo

VCR with hard drive instead of tape.

Allows to quickly jump back and forth in movies

Allows to archive and index what you record

Allow to remove parts (like commercials) from what you record

Based on Linux, modified by them.

Sources available at:
http://www.tivo.com/linux

Helping people

The Simputer

"Radical simplicity for universal access".

From an idea in a seminar in Bangalore, Oct 1998.

Can be used by illiterate people.

Can be used by more people at once.

Screen 320x240, StrongArm CPU
32Mb RAM.

Based on GNU/Linux, GTK
and other free software.

Speech synthesis, handwriting.

Cost around $200US.

http://www.simputer.org

http://www.amidasimputer.com/

http://www.ncoretech.com/simputer/

Infothela, pedal-powered computer

Mobile unit to provide and exchange informations using fax, internet, telephone; designed like temple carriages that bear Hindu deities during festivals.

Born to provide and exchange informations between nearby villages where traditional computing does not exist yet.

Battery rechargeable with pedals.

Weather resistant.

Can also host medical equipment.

http://www.iitk.ac.in/MLAsia/infothela.htm

http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/v2/info.asp?id=15386

And many, many more...

Odontolinux

Debian-Lex

Kahemba

Debian-Junior

KnopILS

Quantian

Eduknoppix

Debian-Med

Conclusion

The world is not as bad
as they usually say.

38. Ritual

Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;

Closely held beliefs are not easily released;

So ritual enthralls generation after generation.

Harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained;

But ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it.

Harmony neither acts nor reasons;

Love acts, but without reason;

Justice acts to serve reason;

But ritual acts to enforce reason.

When the Way is lost, there remains harmony;

When harmony is lost, there remains love;

When love is lost, there remains justice;

But when justice is lost, there remains ritual.

Ritual is the end of compassion and honesty,

The beginning of confusion;

Belief is a colourful hope or fear,

The beginning of folly.

The sage goes by harmony, not by hope;

He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;

He accepts substance, and ignores abstraction.

Conclusion

Be a part of it!

45 mins including questions: ~35 mins of talk

Goal: show that there are problems we don't usually think about, nor we are

aware of

Introduction: what the talk is about

Showing non-technical problems that can happen inside Debian and we ren't always aware of

Where Debian is unique

<Empty slide, taking notes>

<ask people where they think that Debian is unique>

My ideas on the topic

Number of packages

The way people have for communicating

people of different cultures, places, resources, interest, education are working together with very rare physical encounters

communication is mainly computer-mediated, and phisical encounters are not the norm, but the exception

The undefinedness of the user base

The undefinedness of the purpose of use

Number of people working on it

Motivation for cooperation

The open BTS

The presence of an unstable and testing version

2003-07-19T11:28:55