Members of the Open Source Club, a student group formed in 1999, are exploring the world of technology. Specifically, they are interested in open source software.
The Open Source Club focuses “on building a strong community of open source users and developers in order to bring the benefits of open development, open standards, and free software to the university community,” according to the club’s Web site.
Alek Rollyson, a third-year in information systems and the club’s president, said there is a difference between free software and open source software. Free software is like “free beer, or free as in it doesn’t cost me anything,” he said.
Open source software is not just free; it is open for development.
“You can essentially do what you want with it,” he said. “If there’s a feature you don’t like, you can change it, rewrite it and do what you want. Or distribute it to your friends.”
This is possible because open source developers publish the source code, or the blueprint for their software, enabling public modification.
Rollyson said the Open Source Club is one of the most active technology clubs on campus, and 25 to 30 people usually attend weekly meetings.
“Anybody who has an interest in technology and software can get involved,” Rollyson said. In fact, Linus Torvalds, the chief architect and namesake of Linux, began developing it as a college student in Finland.
Rollyson said Linux, an operating system, has become the poster child for open source software. However, unlike Windows or Mac Operating Systems, operating systems distributed by Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. respectively, Rollyson said Linux is a “community project.”
“It’s not distributed by one single entity. It’s worked on by the entire community,” he said. Other well-known examples of open source software and technology are Firefox, a Web browser, and Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia where just about anyone can contribute.
Rollyson said the open source community is made up of people all over the world.
Club members are working on an open source project of their own: an instant messaging program.
Daniel Thau, a second-year in electrical engineering, said while there are already similar programs, such as AOL Instant Messenger, “there’s basically none of them I really liked.”
Thau said the club’s program would operate better when using a computer without a graphical user interface, meaning the user would use only text commands. Going without graphics saves battery life and speeds up processing when connecting to other computers. The club is using the source code from an open source instant messenger called Pidgin and then modifying the program to fit its needs.
So who competes with open source products? Microsoft is an easy target for club members, as well as other companies that charge subscriptions for software.
A particular program that draws club member’s ire is Adobe Photoshop. The graphics editing program costs between $700 and $900 — in part, members say, because it has no real commercial competitors.
There is an open source alternative though. Known as GIMP (short for GNU Image Manipulation Program), it is almost comparable in its features to Photoshop, and is freely distributed.
Thau admitted that business models become more complicated with open source, where designers are not being directly compensated for their innovation. Some companies distribute special packages of open source software and charge for support, such as Red Hat.
However, often there is an altruistic bent.
“[For] a lot of open source software developers, they contribute their work under open source licenses as a sort of community service.
They do it for the good of the community,” said Brian Swaney, a fourth-year in psychology and computer science.
The club recently held a meeting about the security pitfalls of wireless networking. Rollyson said he saw the event as an extension of open source philosophy. “You look for problems … and get those problems out there in the open, and then you can inform people about how to better secure themselves,” he said.
“This is an example of security by openness,” Swaney said. Club members argue that public evaluation, or peer review, enhances the overall security of systems.
“If you have a security system where only the developers know how it works, then only those developers are free to scrutinize the system,” Rollyson said. “But if you release how that system works … then everyone in the community can take a look at it, and you have more eyes on it and more ways to evaluate it.”
The Open Source Club meets every Thursday in Dreese Labs 266 at 7 p.m. The club’s Web site is opensource.cse.ohio-state.edu.
