• FOSS

FOSS

About

• GNU - philosophy

• FSFE - free software DE

• FSFE - free software EN

• Open Source Initiative (OSI)

  • OSI - The Open Source Definition

  • OSI - Open Source Licenses by Category

  • Wikipedia EN Free and open-source software

• Tips4pc - Pros and Cons of Free Software

Pros

• Autonomy
  • Free Software helps to develop and maintain tailored software that suits your needs, not just the vendor's business model.
• Collaboration
  • Free Software can be shared and used in a non-exclusive way by everyone – serving the public good.

• Share & Copy

  • A Free Software licence allows a limitless number of installations to be run, without paying extra.
• No Lock-in
  • Free Software licenses reinforce independence from vendors and provide more choice in service providers.
• Reuse Code
  • Free Software provides the freedom to reuse the code for other projects.
• Innovation
  • A Free Software licence encourages innovation for your software.
• Competition
  • Free Software resists monopolisation and enhances competition.
• Security
  • Free Software allows for independent security checks that help close security holes faster.

Pros from tips4pc.com

• The cost of free software
• Just as good as paid versions
• Many developers/eyes - fewer bugs
• Compatibility
  • FOSS is implementations of standards

Cons

Well it's really hard for me to find any.

But I'll try to give some arguments, taken from the net. Let's see where this leads us.

Cons from tips4pc.com:

The list of recommended free software is stuffed with three Microsoft products? I think the author mixed up free like in freedom, with free like free of cost.

In my opinion these are not specific problems of free software, this all may also happen to proprietary software.

• Lack of support
  • There are no guarantees.
  • You always need to know what you are doing and

    take responsibility.

• Lack of documentation

  • The code is documentation enough. And it's probably more, than you have with proprietary software.

• Developer/Company loses interest
  • No time
  • Jobs have precedence :-D
  • Overwhelming community, that gives honest feedback and suggestions? –,– This scares developers away.
  • It's on github – please don't participate or even fork it.
• Advertising banners
  • Monetization
  • I think this argument is even wrong,

    this is software programmed with free beer. With free software if malicious feature would have been patched away.

• Not all (free) software is safe
• User interface is ugly
  • Obviously beauty is in the eyes of the observer.

Conclusion

Rockstable IT will stick with free software. :-D