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\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
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\author{Lucas Standen}
\title{WORKING TITLE: Why FOSS software is preferred in the
development and privacy space?}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\newpage
\section{Using this document}
This document is written using the {\LaTeX} text compiler. The compiler has set up clickable links,
clickable references and a clickable table of contents, so please use these to your advantage.
The Tex source and Bib Tex bibliography is available for all at
\url{https://github.com/standenboy/epq/}.
\tableofcontents
\newpage
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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 "Free and Open Source Software".
\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.
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 cant 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 windows, Apple's iOS, and Google's chrome
web browser.
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 freedoms a user gets from Free Software is
much the same in Open Source software, and vice versa.
Many people don't know that they already use Free Software\cite{COMMONfoss}, but often there core
tools are Free Software, or are reliant on it. A few examples of this are, Dovecot\cite{DOVECOT};
an email server which some major email providers use and is Free Software and commonly used,
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. A final example if Firefox\cite{FIREFOX} is a Free Software web browser made by Mozilla
that makes up 2.71\% of the browser market share, however in the past has had up to
30\%\cite{BROWSERmarketshare}.
\section{A brief history of FOSS Software}
\section{Examples of Free Software}
\section{Comparing Free Software to its proprietary counterparts}
\section{What makes Free Software so appealing to developers?}
\section{What makes Free Software so appealing to privacy experts?}
\section{Where else is Free Software used and why?}
\section{What's next for the Free Software space?}
\section{Final thoughts}
\newpage
\printbibliography
}
\end{document}
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