Yes..... again we have the hippie. YAY!! You know this lecture is going to be interesting with there is a hippie standing up in front of the classroom staring at whiteboard. Adam Muir his name is, and today, he was talking about how companies control the use of their programs/systems such as Microsoft and Apple by limiting with what we, as in users, can do with it. What I mean by this is by changing its source code. This is called "Proprietary Software". A lot of software and computer developers claim feel that proprietary software’s limit with what they are wanting to create or change to make it run better on their computer. Software and computer developers then retaliated by creating a "Free Software" where anyone change download it for free and change the source codes to the way they like. What is a source code I hear you ask?
Source code is where computers create code that refers to the programming language one uses to write a program. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of forms of source code (Wise Geek 2010). The source code is what makes a computer and its programs to work. Historically, software USED to be free until companies such as Adobe; Apple & Microsoft came in and started charging people to use its software. Source codes allow a user to change the instructions of a program and improve it to however they want.
This was very interesting for me. I've never heard of this term "Proprietary Software" before, nor free software’s on the internet for us to download. I thought we could only buy them or download the illegally. Who would want free software? Is it any better than say Microsoft’s version? These were all the thoughts that were running through my head at the time.
Free software is pretty much the same as licensed software, you just have more freedom to do what you and how you want to create it. The "free software" debate was all started by just one guy, name Richard Stallman. Mr Stallman felt that propriety software was demeaning to all users of the software and that everyone had a right o change the source codes to whatever they liked. He then retaliated creating a free software for everyone called " GNU" where everyone and anyone is able to download a program and change the source codes to whatever they liked. This sparked a massive debate on whether companies like Apple and Adobe could follow in the same footsteps.
This is really interesting as Adam stated that he ONLY uses free software’s and a lot of people in the lecture seem to agree. Maybe I should give it ago and see what all the fuss is about. If it can do the same thing as Microsoft and Apple then I'm sold.
Now before I head off I have to tell you guys about my group’s culture jam assignment. As you guys know we are going to be culture jamming about Parking. Well, we have decided to make up a rumor about Griffith Uni's parking problem. We're all passionate about it, probably because we can never find a parking spot when we arrive. The rumor is going to be about how Griffith Uni has sold off it's undercover parking complex to the Government for it 3000+ workers that will be onsite everyday helping construct the new Gold Coast Hospital, and also how Griffith Uni will be increasing its parking prices by 50%. Now this rumor would sure to get a lot of people angry, don't you guys think? I just hope we can get it pick up by the media!! This would be SO AWSOME if we did. We haven't decided how we're going to get this rumor started buy we will let you guys know soon!!
References - Wise Geek (2010), What Is A Source Code?
Retrieved at: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-source-code.htm
(Online), 7th September 2010
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