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\author{Lucas Standen} \title{Why are FOSS tools preferred in the development and privacy space?}


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\section{Using this document} This document is written using the {\LaTeX} text compiler. The compiler has set up
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The Tex source and Bib Tex bibliography is available for all at \url{https://github.com/standenboy/epq/} under
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\section{A brief introduction}

\section{Used language in this paper} Throughout this paper I will use language specific to the field of computer
science, and as such it makes sense to provide a brief overview for those who don't know what specific terms mean.

\begin{description}
	\item[Licenses] In this setting a license is a legal document that is distributed with
		almost all modern software, which describes how someone can use a piece of software.
	\item[Free Software] This term refers to software under specific licenses, making them
		free for the user to use (free as in freedom, not the monetary cost). This will be covered further
		in the next section.
	\item[Open Source] This term refers to a piece of software, where the original code for it
		is publicly available. This too will be covered further in the next section.
	\item[FOSS] An acronym for \textit{"\textbf{F}ree and \textbf{O}pen \textbf{S}ource \textbf{S}oftware".}
\end{description}

\section{What is Free Software?} The Free Software movement is one that has been active for over 40 years
\cite{GNUmaifesto}, it has created some of the most important tools in computing that are used by billions on a
daily basis.  It is so engraved in our lives, yet so few even know what the term means; In a simple note, it is
software for a computer, phone or other device that can be used without violating the users freedom.

The definition of what counts Free Software and what is software freedom can vary depending on who you ask, but
it was originally written that software that allows the following freedoms is Free Software:

\begin{description}
	\item[0] The freedom to run a program for any purpose \item[1] The freedom to study how a program works,
	and modify it to your needs \item[2] The freedom to redistribute a piece of software \item[3] The freedom
	to redistribute a edited version of software publicly
\end{description} \textit{These freedoms were written by Richard Stallman\cite{FOSSdef} who is ever
	important in this space.}

It is important that one does not confuse Free Software with software that is monetarily free, this is known as
Freeware. Free Software defends the users rights to use and modify software and is not focused on its cost.

One should also note the differences between Free Software and Open Source software. In Open Source software,
like Free Software, the original code for a program is available to anyone, however in Open Source, this is to
better the projects development and usability, whereas in Free Software it is to better the users freedom. They
both use the same methods to achieve differing goals; this often leads them to be commonly used together, as the
benefits a user gets from Free Software is much the same in Open Source software, and vice versa.

The main goal of Free Software is to allow the user to have as much freedom as possible when using a piece of
software for any purpose. This is in contrast to the traditional alternative, called Proprietary Software, which
can be defined as software that the user can not edit, modify or redistribute without the original publishers
permission. This kind of software intentionally restricts the users freedom, usually for the purpose of profit or
control of the software. Some common examples of Proprietary Software, are Microsoft's \textit{Windows}, Apple's
\textit{iOS}, and Google's \textit{Chrome} web browser.

Many people don't know that they already use Free Software\cite{COMMONfoss}, but often the tools they use most
often are Free Software. A few examples of this are, Krita\cite{KRITA}; a graphics design and art tool that is
used frequently in animation, and other digital art, is made and managed by the KDE foundation\cite{KDE}, who make
exclusively Free Software. Dovecot\cite{DOVECOT}; an email server used by many major email providers and is Free
Software. A final example is Firefox\cite{FIREFOX}; a Free Software web browser made by Mozilla that makes up 2.71\%
of the browser market share as of 2024, however in the past has had up to 30\%\cite{BROWSERmarketshare}. These
are all more modern examples of Free Software, however over the past 40 years, there have been countless others.

\section{A brief history of FOSS} The term Free Software was first coined by Richard Stallman in 1983\cite{GNUproject},
however even before this, examples of Free Software (and the disapproval of Proprietary Software), were already
starting to show.

One of the earliest examples of the disapproval of Non-Free Software, was the response to Microsoft's \textit{An
open letter to hobbyists}\cite{OPENletter}, which was written by Bill Gates in 1976. This letter detailed that
people had been stealing from Microsoft, as many people had brought hardware through them, but far fewer people
had brought required software for said hardware. The fact this was happening at a scale large enough to cause this
showed how many computing groups, also known as hacker groups/spaces, weren't willing to pay for the software they
used, believing that if they brought the hardware they had done all that was needed\cite{OPENletter}. It is often
believed that this is one of the first examples of \textit{hacker culture}, which would become more common into the
80's and 90's, and was the starting point of the current Free Software movement, where people continued the view,
that software was not a commodity to be sold, but a resource to be shared.

A key figure in \textit{hacker culture}, as previously mentioned, is Richard Stallman. In the
 1980's he left his job at MIT to work full time on the GNU project, which was designed
to be a full recreation of AT\&T's Unix operating system from the ground up as Free Software.  The idea was to
allow anyone access to a Unix like machine without paying AT\&T's expensive license fees, and allow any user to
view it, redistribute or edit; it was to be the first fully free operating system. The early development of GNU
was relatively slow, and it was not a completely free system for many years, as some core parts of the operating
system were missing, meaning Non-Free alternatives had to be used. However this would later change in 1991, when
final additions would be created.

In 1988 the BSD Net1 operating system would release\cite{BSDnet1}, this was the first fully open version of the
Berkeley Software Distribution version of Unix. BSD was by no means new by this point, however it wasn't fully
free until this point. This version had completely rewritten all the code from the original Unix that previous
versions contained, meaning it was now completely free from AT\&T's licenses.  It would be the start of a long
linage of Open Source operating systems which are now the base of MacOS, FreeBSD and OpenBSD and is often deemed
as the first Open Source operating system.

The GNU project, while still not fully finished, saw the final piece of the puzzle when Linux\cite{LINUX} released in
1991, it was a fully free kernel which GNU was still lacking (however it did get its own kernel called GNU hurd but
Linux is far more commonly used). With GNU and Linux paired together a user could finally get a fully free operating
system for general use, this combination of software is still in use today, having a 4.7\% market share globally
on desktop computers\cite{LINUXmarket}, and on web servers it is dominant. In recent years it has also shown some
use in gaming, with it being the operating system used by Valve's \textit{steam deck} gaming handheld\cite{STEAMdeck}.

Since Linux's release there haven't been as many major events in the space and more so a steady flow of updates
and new features, most likely due to the amount of people working on projects being high enough for constant
development, as opposed to one person sending in code every few weeks or days.	There was another large jump
in development over the Covid lock down's. As of 2024 it would be hard not to say Free Software is fully viable
against its Proprietary counterpart.

\section{How is Free Software developed?} 
The process of developing Free Software has changed over time, especially
as the internet came to be, allowing developers from all across the world to add things. In modern terms the
development process is very simple, a developer can look at a piece of code, make changes to a local version of
it, then it can be uploaded to a central online version of the code, to be checked by lead maintainers, before
becoming the part of the main version (developers would say creating a local branch and submitting a pull request).
This method was popularized by version control systems; such as git\cite{GIT} and RCS, which are both Free Software.
What these tools allow for is the work of many people to brought together into one single code base.

When code is submitted, it generally gets split into individual chunks (called patches) which each have an individual
purpose. Each patch added will fix 1 bug or add 1 feature, this leads to a simple development cycle that can easily
be used to fix bugs, by breaking them down into small patches that need to be written, and distributing the work
between many developers.

Without going into too much detail, this is done by merging all contributions into the main code base by
comparing line numbers in differing versions, this is a fully automated process, managed by your version control
system. This pattern of development is liked amongst programmers as it allows many to submit code all at once,
which is invaluable if your project has many developers. This method is also commonly used in Non-Free Software,
to manage large development teams\cite{NONFREEvcs}.

\section{Comparing Free Software to its Proprietary counterparts} 
As previously mentioned there are many different
examples of Free Software, often made to be an alternative to a common piece of Proprietary software, each have
their pro's and con's. To compare, one can look at performance data and usability. To show a wide range of software,
this paper will look at programming IDE's, web browsers, and office software, as most computer users have used at
least one of these, and thus will be familiar with them.

\subsection{Programming IDE's} 
\textit{An \textbf{IDE} is an \textbf{I}ntegrated \textbf{D}evelopment \textbf{E}nvironment}

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}.

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
more lightweight than Intellij, this has been put up to the fact that VS Code is written in JavaScript, which is
faster than Java, which is what Intellij is written in\cite{VSCODEvsintellij}.

On the usability side, things are more even, both editors have features that makes them better than each other,
each of them have plug-ins support, advanced text editing features and each have auto completion. However in this
sense VS Code still generally comes ahead, with its more main stream user base, more gets made for it, and as it is
Open Source, it is generally easier for users to add features, in the for of patches, and in the form of plug-ins,
although no definite numbers are available on exact plug-in counts publicly, VS Code is most defiantly ahead,
with this too.	It becomes clear how projects like Vs Code become dominate. People want to use something that is
well supported, and then because they too are using it, its support can become better, which is an upward cycle,
that goes on until you reach the market cap.

\begin{figure}[h]
	\caption{Comparing speed of browsers, time \textit{(lower is better)}}
	\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{webbrowserperfomace.png} 
	\center{\cite{BROWSERperformace}} 
	\label{fig:graph}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Web Browsers} 
To compare web browsers, one can look at two commonly used browsers, Google Chrome,
and Firefox. Both of these are known projects, that are used by near billions every day combined, one can look at
their performance and usability to compare these projects.

Figure \textbf{\ref{fig:graph}} denotes each browsers performance in encryption and decryption, while not fully
representative of all use cases, it is one of many things that goes into the final speed of the browser. As the
graph shows, Firefox's FOSS implementation of JavaScript has lead to a faster final product, most likely as more
people have had eyes on the code, and suggested optimizations over the past 20 years. On the front of performance
it is clear that the FOSS tool has beaten the Proprietary counterpart.

In respect to usability things come more to user preference, so what one needs to look at, is customizability; the
ability to make a piece of software exactly fit their needs. In this yet again Firefox wins out, while both Firefox
and Google Chrome have plug-in capability's, Firefox is known for its completely open system to them, allowing any
and all extensions to be used. In contrast Google limits what can be used via the "manifest" documents, this series
of documents describes what is and isn't allowed in the Chrome browser, and is significant as it holds a large
market share. The most recent one of these documents, manifest V3\cite{MANIFESTv3}, has come to much disapproval
amongst users, as it will disallow ad blockers, and other extensions that selectively remove content from web pages.

In today's world, the majority of browsers are based on Chrome in some way or another with Firefox being one of
the few exceptions to this rule. Due to this, most browsers will be effected by manifest V3 as it comes into full
effect in the coming years.  As this happens it will become increasingly hard to deny that Firefox is easier to
customize and make usable to the users needs.

\subsection{Office Software} 
When looking at office software, their are two commonly used tools, Microsoft Office
(also known as 365), and Libreoffice.  Microsoft Office is Proprietary software, and has been since its creation
in the early days of personal computing, Libreoffice on the other hand, has been FOSS software from the start
(libre actually means free in spanish, so this is no surprise).  They both provide advanced features, and for the
most part are completely cross compatible. In this sense they have become almost identical tools.

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
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
most FOSS developers aren't working to new features and are instead working to making a tool that works for them.

\subsection{General conclusions} 
Overall one can see that in many areas of software use, FOSS tools are already
at an equal state or better, than the Non-Free counterparts, for general users. One may find that this balance
begins to change in more specific fields, where optimisation and speed may become more important than it is to
the common computer user or tools are only made by large companies and no free alternative exist.

\section{What makes Free Software so appealing to developers?} 
\subsection{The reasons why they like it}
Free software is used by the majority of developers, and it can lead one to wonder why it is preferred. The
use of free software in developer spaces, as previously mentioned, has been because of people wanting to use
tools they can tinker with, and because they are developers they already know how to do that.

Most developers have pages hosted on websites like GitHub and source forge, where they post code they have written,
this is in a sense creating free software, that can be viewed by anyone. The reason they do this, can be
put up to a lot of things, but one could say it is because they prefer free software. They prefer it for the same reasons 
previously mentioned; that it can make for easier to developer code, produce better quality code, and the more general
philosophical points that can be made. Developers like to make their software open and free, because they believe 
it betters their work.

The majority of developers also enjoy contributing, working on free software, for many reasons;
it simply leads to nicer software for their use case that they feel they have worked on, and because so many 
developers work with free software, a lot of it has become developer focused, contain features for them. Another
reason is because it is positively looked on in the work place; contributing to FOSS projects for many is an extra qualification,
much like volunteering is in other fields\cite{FOSSforjob}. Large amounts of free software is solely made for developers, by 
developers, for example IDE's that were spoken on earlier in this paper.

\subsection{Why this causes others to not like FOSS}
Another point to note is why free software is \textbf{not} preferred by more general users. It is mostly for the
same reasons, being made for and made by developers has made the space hard to enter for general users. It 
can seem overwhelming, or too complicated, with little gain at face value. As less general users uses Free 
Software, it is easier to single out that developers are the only people who use it. It is also worth pointing
out yet again, that most people, even without trying use exclusively free software, will end up using some anyway
through common tools, like VLC, Notepad++, and through libraries that power the software they use. However these 
people would not be deemed as \textit{in the FOSS communality}.

\subsection{Conclusions}
Overall it is clear that developers prefer free software for the simple reason of it works better to their 
specific needs, because they tinker, make, and tune it as they want. This would not be possible on non free software
as it simply is not designed to be modified beyond original use cases. It can also be seen that general users do
not go out of their way to use free software on a main stream basis, as it currently doesn't follow their exact needs.

\section{What makes Free Software so appealing to privacy enthusiasts?} 
\subsection{Who are privacy enthusiasts and why do they do what they do?} % needs an edit, why do they do what they do" is clunky
Privacy enthusiasts are simply people who care for their privacy very heavily, they like to keep themself completely 
anonymous when using technology; there are many reasons one may want to do this, for example, individuals in politically
tense countries may wish to remain hidden when reading outside news sources or talking to others from the rest of the world.
Another example could be those who have information that they wish to make public, as they deem it to be right to share, while
a legally dubious, it is a reason that people wish to be hidden. And finally it may be that people do not want information 
going to large corporations, who are known for selling user data.

\subsection{Some known examples}
When looking for an example of a privacy enthusiast, it can be hard, as most of them are quite good at being private, and thus
much information is hard to find, however there are some known examples of people who attempt to hide them self for one reason
or another.

\begin{description}
	\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 those from the restricting countries can read news without their governments knowing.
		This service is also used by their reporters to feed back information from countries in strict political monitoring.
	\item[Edward Snowden: ]
		This man is known for in 2013 leaking many documents from the NSA \textit{(the American National Security Agency)},
		outlining how the USA had full access to email communications between the majority of major email providers in the USA.
		He is known for using many privacy tools when fleeing from America to avoid prosecution. While this is obviously highly
		illegal, with the USA prosecuting him under the Espionage Act of 1917; he is often praised for his work, pushing 
		against mass surveillance. What is interesting about him as an individual is that he worked for the NSA and CIA and says 
		that the mass surveillance was known and common\cite{EDWARDsnowden}.
	\item[Lawrence Lessig: ]
		He is known for pushing digital privacy and free software. He cares for privacy for the sake of it, not because he has 
		things to hide like Edward Snowden, or because he is in a politically restrictive state. He has appeared in/worked on 
		films, books and other media trying to push for free digital speech and free digital use. He believes digital privacy 
		is one of many steps needed to achieve this\cite{LESSIG}.
\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 some form of private messaging.

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 
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
how long.

\subsection{Why is this better for them?}
\section{Where else is Free Software used and why?} 
\section{What's next for the Free Software space?} 
\section{Final thoughts}

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} 
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