I feel this issue I will be talking about is extremely important in the computer industry. The Open Source environment has contributed to many different technologies and has proven itself exceptional. Apple Computer actually uses Open Source technology right in their OS. Darwin (terminal) is an open source project. As some of you might already be familar with, I am currently developing an Open Source search engine. (www.iopenseek.org). I feel the open source community is crucial to computer development. If you take a look at the world's most stable software, it is usually built off of open source in some form or another. For example, Mozilla Firefox. The Firefox browser is an open source project. The entire source code is available for download and anyone can actually contribute to the browser. A good question to ask now would be, IE or Firefox, which one do you prefer?

It is safe to say that technology has changed over the last 13 years. What is surprising is that 13 years ago was the last version of the GNU General Public License(GPL). You could imagine in revising and releasing a third version of the License there is a bit more technology to worry about. One of course is DRM. Limiting in any form the users ability to run an application or use its resources is just disappointing. This is a very difficult argument to fight. You have on one side the Free Software Foundation(FSF) saying that limiting the use or ability of the user to modify an application clearly defies all that the GPL and FSF stand for. The GPL also emphasizes that when using the term free, it does not apply to compensation financially, but the ability for the user to execute, modify and/or copy the application. The FSF feels that limiting the usage goes against this belief that the software should be free of restrictions. A different approach to the issue taken by the Linux founder, Linus Torvalds, is that he feels you cannot limit restriction either because the idea of open source technology is that you are "free" to use it as you wish. He also stated that he sees uses of Linux that he does not always agree with but it is there for anyone's use. He did not go as far as saying he supported not limiting software.

Patents was another big issue taken on by the GPL v3 draft 2. Software patents can be extremely dangerous to general-purpose computing. The hardest thing about it is global patent laws are not the same. The internet is a global meeting place, so to speak. A set of universal guidelines for technology should be set in place. The computer world is not what it was years ago. We rely heavily on the internet for even offline tasks. How many of you use open source software? Do you get a cd or dvd in the mail with the application on it? Chances, are you do not, and you actually download the application from the software's website. It is one continuing cycle that has different regulations in different places. The terrible thing about software patents is who is to say who came up with something first. How can you turn around and get a patent for something that has already been on the market and from a different vendor? I feel part of the issue with patents and technology is a lack of education. There are people out there that just do not have a solid understanding of software development, yet they are issuing patents on technology. I see that as a heart surgeon telling a brain surgeon where to make his first cut. What the computer industry needs is to take a step back from patents and focus more on a productive approach.

I have made it my goal at my company XiTechnology, (site being released tomorrow), to provide the best possible software at no cost. Some of our projects are open source projects. Our search engine applications upon release will be available to download in source code format. We are concerned with creating a better experience for our end-users and helping advance the technology environment.

A copy of the GPL draft can be found here. GPL Version 3 Draft 2
The iOpenSeek website can be found here. iOpenSeek.org
Mozilla Firefox Website

-Michael Novak