A modern world: the case for software freedom

It’s been proven time and time again that the strongest solutions come from ideas that are shared, reworked and iterated upon among groups of curious minds

Software freedom is the idea that software and its source code is free to access, use, study, distribute and modify. Whatever the purpose, and whoever the user.

Today, free and open source software (FOSS) tends to be identified exclusively as a key component of the software industry. Few would equate Henry Ford's group of US car manufacturers, who shared their car technology openly and with no cost incentive among one another, as "open source". Yet, this 1911 initiative is one of the earliest examples of the concept.

Nowadays, cutting edge innovations often emerge from open source communities - because it's been proven time and time again that the strongest solutions come from ideas that are shared, reworked and iterated upon among groups of curious minds.

And, it's no secret: in enterprise, 95 per cent of IT leaders say open source is strategically important to their business. Whether it's AI and ML, containers or Kubernetes, open source solutions are enabling human advancements across industries: from space exploration and robotics, to food production, 5G network rollouts and smart cities.

The proprietary problem

Historically, when electronic equipment and infrastructure was both expensive and a major investment, sharing software was a way for small businesses, large corporations, university institutions and public organisations to save money and make progress.

In its early days, software was originally developed from scratch to solve particular pain points specific to individual use cases, at a time when computers were costly. The emergence of pure software companies followed, along with a desire to protect product source code. The new standard for software was keeping developments proprietary.

The proprietary approach afforded businesses real competitive advantages, however it seriously limited innovative collaboration and ease of access. At this point, FOSS evolved into a specialised area of expertise.

Thanks to dedicated developers and some noteworthy projects, the value of FOSS has grown and evolved. For example:

Since the likes of GNU, there have been a number of open source innovations that have helped to guide open source back into the limelight. From the Apache Web Server, PHP and MySQL, to the Android Operating System, OpenJDK and even Netscape, developers have been using open source projects to create efficient and reliable enterprise solutions.

In parallel, the Creative Commons Licence and other legal innovations like the GPL Cooperation Commitment are helping to ensure that open source developers and users are not restricted by licence enforcement fears.

What is the true value of software freedom?

We've all heard of Android, Firefox and WordPress, prevalent names among numerous examples of FOSS, and in the tech industry, Kubernetes and Linux are bread and butter for many. However, there are less well-known, tangible use cases that - thanks to the accessibility of FOSS and the ability for organisations and individuals to collaborate - are contributing to the solution of major global issues.

In Chile, for example, the strength of open source-based data is enabling scholars and artisans to protect and preserve Chilean habitats and heritage. With open hardware, students in the US are growing food in classrooms and experts in Patagonia are managing the sustainable grazing of sheep flocks.

On a global scale, Greenpeace has designed its new engagement platform using open source, connecting millions of advocates to causes across the world. Open source software technology is also enabling UNICEF to record the location of every single school in the world, and show their connectivity live.

For all these examples, the common development denominator, open source, is proving the value and importance of collaboration for success and innovation. Developers worldwide are able to contribute to projects in real-time, to create stronger and more accurate iterations of software throughout the development process.

Without software freedom, individual, enterprise and not-for-profit innovations would be considerably slower, more limited and vastly more expensive. With it, those that will likely see the most benefit from software freedom are not excluded.

Together, technology and business leaders and professionals alike must protect the freedoms of technology and software. We must put our time, resources and money into supporting open source software projects, foundations and initiatives like the GPL Cooperation Commitment. Let's continue to be vocal supporters of innovation and accessibility, together.

Jan Wildeboer is EMEA evangelist at Red Hat