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=What's an FSOSS?=
This was my first year attending the Free Software & Open Source Symposium / Linux Fest (FSOSS). Of course being a Senecan for over 4 years I had heard of FSOSS and knew it was something for open source enthusiasts but never had I participated nor really thought about what goes on there. With a bit of research I quickly learned that FSOSS is where new trends, new projects, and anything open source is discussed and demonstrated through a day of workshops and 2 days of presentations. This year I missed out on the workshops but attended a few presentations and have chosen to offer my analysis on two in particular that offer express different perspectives on how open source has benefited themthe speaker. The two presentations summarized and analyzed in this paper are How to Start an Internet Famous Business with Open Source Software and Take Control of your TV with XBMC.
=The Talks=
Although Mandel spent a good chuck of his presentation going over the long list of features XBMC has to offer I’m sure that was not the heart of his talk. Mandel was simply giving us an example of what the open source community can accomplish. XBMC along with other great open source software is the epitome of why developers participate in projects like these. People everywhere have the opportunity to use free software that will be life changing, if only in the smallest way.
=Analysis=
The greatest difference I noticed between these two speakers is that Hoye did not speak about the open source products he developed nor any other open source product. He spoke about what open source can do for you. On the contrary Mandel focused his presentation on one open source product and spoke about what you can do with it. Although Mandel did not explicitly talk about how great open source software is and encourage his audience to get involved and give back to the community it is quite clear that he is a supporter of it.
Mandel gave an example of how a piece of the open source community has innovated the way we view our TV. He gave us an example of how open source can change our lives from an entertainment perspective. On the other hand Hoye gave us an example of how open source can change our lives from a business and professional level. Mandel and Hoye’s talks were completely different but they go hand in hand. Hoye spoke about how to go about developing a successful product that takes advantage of the open source community while Mandel gave us a great example of what such a product may be. Both Mandel and Hoye see open source software as an opportunity but given the context of their presentations maybe have a different idea what that opportunity is. Hoye saw an opportunity to start a successful business and make money. Mandel saw an opportunity to make the entertainment factor in his life a little bit sweeter.
I think there is a big misconception about open source software which is that it just doesn’t measure up to closed source software. I think a lot of people associate open source software with having lots of bugs and sub-standard capabilities. I also think that open source software flies under the radar and doesn’t receive the praise it deserves. This of course goes for the open source developers as well. There are millions of users who use and download free software and probably don’t realize that there is a community of developers working hard to provide free solutions. When something is free it is easy to forget about how much time and effort went into making it what it is. Just because something is free doesn’t mean it was easy to do. And just because a piece of software has a small bug doesn’t give a user reason to discredit it completely. FSOSS is great way to give the software and developers the credit they deserve. It reminds users and educates new users of how an open community can accomplish great things. It also reminds and educates us on the amount and wide array of resources, whether this be information, assistance, sense of community, add-ons, plug-ins, new releases, better versions, etc. that the open source community has to offer. Listening to Hoye and Mandel speak about what open source has done for them reminded me of those exact things.
=In Closing=
Going from an open source user and abuser to very recently an open source developer my views have changed quite a bit. By user and abuser I mean someone who did not completely understand what open source meant, entailed, nor really appreciated the free software I use every day. Without Filezilla, Zen Cart, Magento, Firefox, Vuze, and way more my life would be a lot less exciting and a lot more challenging. I did not have the appreciation for open source that it deserves before entering into the open source development course at Seneca. My appreciation quickly started to grow as it was brought to my attention that people all over the world are connected through one common piece of software and the limits on this one piece of software are endless when you open it up for all to see. Listening to Hoye and Mandel speak only confirmed and strengthened my views on open source.