What do you mean by proprietary?

“ Proprietary software is non-free computer software for which the software's publisher or another person retains intellectual property rights - usually copyright of the source code, but sometimes patent rights. “

- Wikipedia

Let’s talk about Freedom

The 1960’s

The decade of change.

📬   💾   🖥️

The 1980’s

Proprietary was the norm

💸

Modifying source code

️️🖨️ ️ ️️➡️ ️ ️️📧

The Free Software Foundation

-1985-

“ We call this free software because the user is free. “

- Free Software Foundation

The Four Freedoms

• The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.

“ Think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer. “

- Richard Stallman

But how do we make money?

Ask RedHat

They just sold to IBM for ~$34 billion

So that’s Free Software

So what’s Open Source?

Pretty much the same thing

🤷‍

Software can be Open Source but not Free.

But if it’s Free, it’s Open Source

The 1990’s

The Netscape source code was released

(would later become the Firefox browser)

️️🦊 ️

“ To educate and advocate for the superiority of an open development process “

- Open Source Initiative

Create and improve source code by participating in an engaged community.

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/issues/1096

https://about.gitlab.com/2019/07/26/quantifying-ux-positioning-of-the-clone-button/

But how do you know if it’s FOSS?

Check the License

📝‍

Copyright

Only the author/creator has rights to copy, distribute, adapt the work

Copyleft

The public retains freedom to copy, distribute, adapt the work, provided it is under the same copyleft terms

Software Licenses in Plain English

https://tldrlegal.com

Let’s meet Karen

• Lawyer
• Degree in Engineering
• Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy
• General Counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center
• Co-organizes Outreachy, outreach program for women and people of color who are underrepresented in tech
• Pro bono counsel to the Free Software Foundation and GNOME

Karen Sandler

Karen has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

(genetic, the walls of her heart are very thick so it can be harder for the heart to pump blood)

She had a pacemaker fitted

In her 30's

Then she got pregnant

🤦‍

What can we do?

Use FOSS over Proprietary

There’s usually always an open source alternative. Consider using it

‍💱

Open Source Your Work

Are you doing something that others could benefit from?

‍🎁

Become a Free and Open Source Advocate

Do you use FOSS at work? Champion contributing back - either time or money

‍⏳

Free and Open Source Gives us a voice

Use it

‍📢

There’s some amazing projects out there

OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.

https://www.openstreetmap.org

SignDict is an open dictionary for sign language. Everyone is invited to join in.

https://signdict.org

Wheelmap is a map for finding wheelchair accessible places.

The map works similar to Wikipedia: anyone can contribute and mark public places around the world according to their wheelchair accessibility.

https://wheelmap.org

The A11Y Project

A community-driven effort to make web accessibility easier.

https://a11yproject.com

Open Benches

A map of 12,206 memorial benches - added by people like you

https://openbenches.org

Fashion Revolution

We want to unite people and organisations to work together towards radically changing the way our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed, so that our clothing is made in a safe, clean and fair way.

https://www.fashionrevolution.org