Free Software

[dillbertdabomb]

Ok Free Software is something thats easy to grasp, right? well I wanted to get ubuntu (a distrib of linux)
and my dad says that free software is not to be trusted. Well alot of software is free right? Well why do people make free software? What are communties trying to get out of us? Is free software bad? Maybe Im just not understanding this right... do they do it for the better good of oter people? to gain respect? or just gain experince? Well and most of all... Is free software 100% safe?

[Brandon]

Ok Free Software is something thats easy to grasp, right? well I wanted to get ubuntu (a distrib of linux)
and my dad says that free software is not to be trusted. Well alot of software is free right? Well why do people make free software? What are communties trying to get out of us? Is free software bad? Maybe Im just not understanding this right... do they do it for the better good of oter people? to gain respect? or just gain experince? Well and most of all... Is free software 100% safe?

Because they can make money other ways. And Ubuntu (which is good) is not free, its open source

[dillbertdabomb]

Whats the diffrence, maybe thats what i'm not understanding?

[Starshine]

Definition of Open Source :

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%5Fsource

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition

Maybe those will help explain.

[Brandon]

Free Software, you can download, but Open Source software means the source code it avalible for it. Some examples are

Apache Web Server
MySQL Server
PHP
Most Linux Distros


Open Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source
Free Software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software

[dillbertdabomb]

so you can change it whenever you want?

[Brandon]

so you can change it whenever you want?

I guess so, I just install it, im not much of an application developer...

-Brandon

[tenkabuto]

Normally to gain respect with their product and experience with managing their software. Giving things away free, can be harder than selling.

[kryptonyte]

You really just have to know what software can be trusted and what can't be. Most linux distributions are safe, if your unsure just look for it on www.distrowatch.com and see how it ranks up. I know Ubuntu is safe since I use it and it is widely supported by ITs and developers. Free software isn't at all unsafe as long as you do a little research on it before hand. A simple google search usually reveals whether that software is trusted or not.

And on the whole Open Source/Free Software thing Open Source is essentially free software with an added bonus...that the source is readily available.

[disturbedart]

yes Linux Ubuntu is safe in many ways and so is many other linux distros. you can download it with no worries of virus or messing up. easiest way if u havent got the time to download the dvd just get the livecd and update through that it saves alot of time

Dvd = 3odd GB
live cd = 678mb