History of FOSS

Ever wondered what FOSS is or Where it emerges from? Here is a quick breakdown of what FOSS is all about. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is a revolution in computing. This type of software allows users to do whatever they want with the software, including using it, studying it, modifying it, and sharing that modified version of the software. FOSS also differs from proprietary software, which generally has restrictive licenses and does not allow the end user to access the source code.

To understand how to give FOSS its rightful credit, we have to go back to the beginning of a major shift in computing culture. For researchers and developers, the process of sharing software was historically very open — in the 1950s and 1970s researchers would often pass software around freely with all of its source code. By the end of the 1970s however, corporate control over software was becoming tighter, proprietary models began to dominate, which created a divide. Business models prioritize control over collaboration

This period of software-history set the stage for the development of Unix. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie developed a software operating system called Unix in 1969 at a research facility in Bell Labs (located within AT&T). Unix was built on a simple philosophy of writing simple and modular tools that could be combined to create powerful solutions. However, since it was proprietary software, those who were looking for a free way to create and develop with Unix found it to be very limiting due to cost. As a result, those who felt they had lost their rights to develop freely were frustrated.

In 1983, Richard Stallman entered the scene. Alarmed by the diminishing user freedoms, he started the GNU Project to develop an entire free operating system, similar to Unix. GNU cleverly refers to "GNU is Not Unix" and aims to restore all the rights of the user, such as using, reading, changing and sharing software freely. GNU was a very substantial act of defiance. The only problem was that it came with no kernel - that is, the most important piece of software, the kernel would be what connects the application software with the hardware beneath it.

The last piece of this puzzle was introduced in 1991 by Linus Torvalds, a student of computer science from Finland. At the time, he was frustrated with expensive versions of Unix, so he wrote a free Unix-compatible kernel as a personal project. In 1992 he relicensed it under the GNU General Public License, which created a huge wave of collaborative effort within the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community, with people offering their contributions to assist with the accelerating development of Linux. Shortly thereafter, major corporations such as Red Hat, IBM and Google also became involved, significantly enhancing the growth of Linux.

Today, the versatility offered by Linux supports everything from web hosting to Android mobile devices while integrating FOSS values into the foundation of the technology we use today. Richard Stallman once warned: "You can be either a user or a programmer of a piece of software. If you are a programmer but do not have control of the software, you are an object of unjust power ". Ultimately, FOSS is a movement for reclaiming our digital freedom, not just a collection of computer code. What's your favorite FOSS tool, and how has it shaped your world?