diff options
author | thing1 <thing1@seacrossedlovers.xyz> | 2025-01-30 12:38:15 +0000 |
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committer | thing1 <thing1@seacrossedlovers.xyz> | 2025-01-30 12:38:15 +0000 |
commit | 78944b6cfdf857b9b63795346ca4cc91b046e39b (patch) | |
tree | 7a4de7528d755148b9fe0cb08d6c7fc1c03f8d4c /writeup | |
parent | 23a31f9f278b54b3e5c404cef4cf13890048bdda (diff) |
made things more impartial
Diffstat (limited to 'writeup')
-rw-r--r-- | writeup/writeup.tex | 39 |
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 15 deletions
diff --git a/writeup/writeup.tex b/writeup/writeup.tex index 71cc3db..a0fec13 100644 --- a/writeup/writeup.tex +++ b/writeup/writeup.tex @@ -54,14 +54,14 @@ what specific terms mean. \item[FOSS] An acronym for \textit{"\textbf{F}ree and \textbf{O}pen \textbf{S}ource \textbf{S}oftware".} \item[IDE] An \textit{\textbf{I}ntegrated \textbf{D}evelopment \textbf{E}nvironment}, is a tool used by developers - to write code, it can be thought of as a text editor like Word or Docs, but instead of spell checking, + to write code, it can be thought of as a text ediTORlike Word or Docs, but instead of spell checking, it instead has syntax checking. \end{description} \section{A brief introduction} This paper will cover the advancements of FOSS tools and systems over time, discuss the benefits, its recent growth, and the reasons developers and privacy experts find it to be a better tool for the job. This paper will cover a variety -of ways of how FOSS software is used compared to its propriety counterparts. +of ways of how FOSS software is used compared to its proprietary counterparts. \section{What is Free Software?} The Free Software movement is one that has been active for over 40 years @@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ least one of these, and thus will be familiar with them. The main IDE's used by developers are Free Software, but there are a few Non-free ones that are used according to the stack over flow developer survey\cite{IDEusage}. To compare text editors, one can look at \textit{VS Code} as an example of open software, with 73\% of developers claiming to have used it at some point, and \textit{IntelliJ}, -as an example of Non-free software, with 26\% of developers claiming to have used it at some point\cite{IDEusage}. +as an example of Non-Free Software, with 26\% of developers claiming to have used it at some point\cite{IDEusage}. These tools are both commonly used personally and professionally, and are of a similar size, making them ideal to compare. On the performance side of the argument, VS Code has Intellij beat, being faster to open and generally @@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ most part are completely cross compatible. In this sense they have become almost As the tools are so similar one will find it's not worth comparing them, in this way we can say that there is no difference, they are both mature, well used, effective suites of software, they are equal. This is something many -people struggle to see sometimes as they have been using one piece of Non-free software for so long, they don't +people struggle to see sometimes as they have been using one piece of Non-Free Software for so long, they don't want to move to anything else. This has negative effects on the users, many Non-free tools are effected by cyber attacks, and long lasting bugs, that could be fixed by switching to Free Software alternatives, as the technical users of these tools fix these issues quickly compared to alternatives. This is usually put up to the fact that @@ -266,22 +266,31 @@ In enterprise software development, there is often very specific tasks that need a related tool, can lead to a solution coming from modifying something that already exists, or by observing inner workings. This is very helpful in an enterprise setting for a number of reasons, such as: ones work is too specific to have a pre-existing tool, or ones company may not be able to acquire a license to an existing piece of software. + \subsubsection{What is not appealing?} Many developers do however site issues with FOSS, often claiming it to be too hands on, which may not be ideal. While a large amount of these claims are no longer true (especially around tools like Linux\cite{LINUXhard}), they do still hold weight over the Free Software community. It is in a sense a double edged sword, because tools are more customizable\cite{FOSScustomize}, it can feel that without customizations, one -does not get a proper experience using FOSS if one wants something that just works. +does not get a proper experience using FOSS if one wants something that just works. + \subsection{Why is it more appealing than Non-free Software?} -Due to the closed down nature of non-Free Software, it is often hard to work with when a specific use cases is required, as it -is too locked down to customise. For a lot of developers they also find non-Free Software as a blight on the software space, +Due to the closed down nature of Non-free Software, it is often hard to work with when a specific use cases is required, as it +is too locked down to customise. For a lot of developers they also find Non-free Software as a blight on the software space, as they feel that it is objectively worse, due to the locked nature and corporate profits often being considered before user experience, this is only an opinion, but it is held by many individuals in the space. + +\subsubsection{Why is the alternative still better for some people?} +For some people, the stable, static nature of Non-free tools is appealing over the draws of newer Free tools. Many people also worry +about the speratic nature of development in Free Software, as they are often held up by only a few individuals, these people aren't interested +in customising their software, and instead are trying to use something they are familiar with. + \subsection{How does this effect other users?} As repeated various times, a lot of what makes FOSS appealing is the fact it can be customised, far more than other pieces of software. This often leads to developers using a piece of software, then as it open, they contribute to it, but it often ends up being that the features added are developer focused and thus do not help general users, or in some cases, hinders them. This has all lead to and \textit{echo chamber} effect, where features are added by developers for developers. One must be made aware however that this is not true of all projects, it is just a trend among major projects. + \subsection{Conclusions} Overall a lot of this comes down to weather a project can be customised or not, as this is a feature key to developers as it is often targeted towards them. This has given FOSS tools a strong hold in the developer space with a large amount @@ -307,7 +316,7 @@ or another. \item[BBC reporters and readers: ] While not an individual, a very interesting case, to ensure those who live in countries with restrictive media, or communications, the BBC have began to host a version of their news site over - the tor network\cite{BBCtor}, which means people from restrictive countries can read uncensored news without + theTORnetwork\cite{BBCtor}, which means people from restrictive countries can read uncensored news without their governments knowing. This service is also used by their reporters to feed back information from countries with strict political monitoring. \item[Edward Snowden: ] @@ -325,12 +334,12 @@ or another. to Free Software, as they are both about sharing, reusing and avoiding limitations. \end{description} \subsection{What Free Software do they use?} -While many tools come to mind when thinking of privacy, the most prominent ones have to be Tor and Linux. +While many tools come to mind when thinking of privacy, the most prominent ones have to be TORand Linux. -Tor (\textit{\textbf{T}he \textbf{O}nion \textbf{R}outer}), is a Free Software tool that allows a user to encrypt their network +TOR(\textit{\textbf{T}he \textbf{O}nion \textbf{R}outer}), is a Free Software tool that allows a user to encrypt their network traffic, and send it through three other computers first. This is similar to a VPN (\textit{\textbf{V}irtual \textbf{P}rivate \textbf{N}etwork}), which sends network traffic through an middle man before it is received at the server. The difference is that Tor, will go through -three random middle men nodes, instead of one constant node\cite{TOR}. Using Tor makes it almost impossible for a server to know where the original +three random middle men nodes, instead of one constant node\cite{TOR}. Using TORmakes it almost impossible for a server to know where the original connection came from, and makes it very hard to intercept signals between the user and server, thus hiding the user of the computer. This \textit{connection masking} as it is called, can be used to hide website traffic, messaging traffic or in fact any kind of network traffic, to someone trying to spy on the user, they will never know where they are connecting too, how often they are connecting, or for @@ -339,17 +348,17 @@ how long. Linux \textit{(also known as GNU/Linux)}, as previously mentioned is a free and open source operating system, this is frequently used by privacy enthusiasts as it has been vetted by countless individuals to ensure it contains no malicious code that could effect a users individual privacy. GNU/Linux is split into many different distributions that are all individually maintained, some of them are designed for general use, while others are -meant for more specific use cases. All of them will be more private than non-free alternatives as they are so rigorously checked. Some privacy +meant for more specific use cases. All of them will be more private than Non-free alternatives as they are so rigorously checked. Some privacy specific ones exist such as tails OS\cite{TAILSOS}, and some are designed for more offensive privacy and security such as Kali Linux \cite{KALIlinux}. \subsection{Why is Proprietary software not applicable for this use case?} For privacy experts and enthusiasts, Free and open tools are preferable for the fact that they know what is happening internally. If a user were -using non free tools, it would be impossible to know weather the code running had their privacy in mind, or if it would be sending data to a large +using Non-free tools, it would be impossible to know weather the code running had their privacy in mind, or if it would be sending data to a large corporation or other such entity. For this reason free and open software is perfect, there cant be any hidden malicious intentions as they would be seen by all who vet these tools on a daily basis. Another reason that one can draw as to why someone would want to use free tools is that they are -less restricted in what they can do; non-free tools are limited by corporate law and other such things, Free Software on the other hand is less limited +less restricted in what they can do; Non-free tools are limited by corporate law and other such things, Free Software on the other hand is less limited as restricting what individuals make and share, would end up making many things in common life illegal. Its under these rules that tools such as -Tor can exist. +TORcan exist. \section{Where else is Free Software used and why?} Free Software is used in many places, it is versatile, and easy to modify, which is ideal for most corporate situations or public services. For example Free Software is in libraries to allow for easy management of books and databases\cite{LIBRARIESFOSS}. In libraries, |