What is free and open source software. Open source software What are open source programs?

Open source software is a method of software development in which the created source code of programs is open, that is, publicly available for viewing and modification. This allows anyone to use the already created code for their own needs and, possibly, help in the development of an open source program.

An "open" license does not require that the software be provided free of charge at all times. But many of the most successful open source software projects are still free.

Overwhelming majority open programs is simultaneously free(GNU GPL) and vice versa, because the definitions of open and free software are similar, and most licenses comply with both.

Difference between movements open source And free software lies mainly in priorities. Proponents of open source software emphasize efficiency of open source codes programs as a development method. Supporters of free software are based on ideological considerations, and believe that it is rights distribution, modification and study of programs are the main advantage free software.

Microsoft Windows OS

Rice. 39. OC Windows logo.

MS Windows (pronounced Vindouz) is a family of operating systems from Microsoft (Microsoft). Head of Microsoft Corporation - Bill Gates.

Since 1995, Windows has been the most popular operating system on the personal computer market - the de facto standard. By 2005, Microsoft Windows was installed on more than 89% of personal computers.

However, many users have chosen the Windows OS because they are not at all familiar with alternatives such as MacOS, Linux, BSD. In Russia, until the early 2000s, almost all personal computers were sold with the Windows operating system preinstalled. The fight against the spread of pirated versions of software products has led to the emergence of interest in other operating systems. For example, it became possible to purchase a personal computer with pre-installed free Linux OS.

Windows version release chronology


Windows 1.0 (1985)

1. Windows 2.0 (1987)

2. Windows/386 (1987)

3. Windows 3.0 (1990)

4. Windows 3.1 (1992)

5. Windows NT 3.1 (1993)

6. Windows NT 3.5 (1994)

7. Windows 95 (1995)

8. Windows NT 4.0 (1996)

9. Windows 98 (1998)

10. Windows 2000 (2000)

11. Windows Me (2000)

12. Windows XP (2001)

13. Windows 2003 (2003)

14. Windows Vista (2007)

15. Windows working title Vienna (2010)


Integrated software products and application software

The Microsoft Windows operating system includes standard applications, such as Internet browser Explorer, Outlook Express email client, record player Windows Media Player.

There has been much controversy and debate surrounding the inclusion of such standard products in the Windows operating system, as it poses a major barrier to the adoption of competing products.

Rice. 40. MS Office package logo.

For MS Windows there is a very convenient and mastered by most users Microsoft Office application package, including:

Word processor MS Word,

Table processor MS Excel,

Organizer MS Outlook,

Application for preparing presentations MS PowerPoint,

Database Management Application MS Access.

Do not forget that both the Windows OS and the vast majority of popular application programs for Windows have a copyright license, i.e. are proprietary BY. Accordingly, each copy of such a program must be purchased for money. For example, at the end of 2006 the price of Windows XP Home Edition Russian BOX (SP2) - $185, Office 2003 Russian CD - $322.

By using unlicensed (pirated) software protected by a copyright license, you are violating copyright laws.

OS GNU/Linux

Rice. 41. GNU/Linux OS logo – Tux penguin.

The GNU/Linux operating system (pronounced "gnu Linux") is a free UNIX-like operating system. Typically, for historical reasons and for brevity, this system is simply called "Linux". This is the most powerful alternative to MS Windows, popular as a server and rapidly gaining popularity as a desktop operating system in recent years, due to increased control over compliance with the licensed use of Windows OS by Microsoft in versions of XP and Vista.

The GNU/Linux operating system also often includes programs that complement this operating system and application programs that make it a full-fledged multifunctional operating environment.

Unlike most other operating systems, GNU/Linux does not have a single “official” package. Instead, GNU/Linux comes in a large number of so-called distributions, in which GNU programs are combined with the Linux kernel and other programs. The most common distributions in the world:

American Red Hat and his heir Fedora Core;

German SuSE;

French Mandriva(former Mandrake);

Non-national international distribution Debian GNU/Linux;

One of the oldest distributions Slackware;

A relatively young and actively developing distribution Gentoo;

Young but promising distribution Ubuntu Linux.

Creator of the Linux kernel - Linus Torvalds. GNU/Linux does not have a geographical development center. There is no organization that owns this system; There is not even a single coordination center. Programs for GNU/Linux are the result of the work of thousands of projects. Some of these projects are centralized, some are concentrated in companies, but most bring together programmers from all over the world who know each other only through correspondence. Anyone can create their own project or join an existing one and, if successful, the results of the work will become known to millions of users. Users take part in testing free software and communicate directly with developers, which allows them to quickly find and fix errors and implement new features.

Linux has already occupied about 30% of the Australian server operating system market. The Australians were followed by the Brazilians. The Brazilian government has decided to stop spending money on software and go with Microsoft products to systems with open source, in particular, the Linux OS. The main reason for the changes is economic. In our country, the Linux market is still small.

File system

All information on the computer is stored in files with which the operating system works.

File(file) - this is a named sequence of bytes, a permanent storage place for various types of information.

Files are organized in catalogues, also called directories or folders. Catalog is a file that stores information about other files: name, size, creation date, file address on disk.

Any directory can contain any number subdirectories, each of which can store files and other directories.

Each disk has a master or root directory, which contains all other directories, called subdirectories, and some files. Thus, it is created hierarchical structure. The directory that the user is currently working with is called current.

Files and directories are the most important objects in the file system. File system- regulations that determine the method of organizing, storing and naming data on media. It defines the physical storage format for files. A specific file system determines the size of the file name, the maximum possible file size, and a set of file attributes.

The way data is organized into bytes is called file format. In order to read a file, such as a spreadsheet, you need to know how the bytes represent the numbers (formulas, text) in each cell; To read a text editor file, you need to know which bytes represent characters, which fonts or fields, and other information.

All files can be divided into two parts - text And binary.

Text files- the most common data type in the computer world. One byte is most often allocated to store each character, and text files are encoded using special encoding tables.

But pure text files are becoming increasingly rare. People want documents to contain pictures and diagrams and use a variety of fonts. As a result, formats appear that are various combinations of text, graphics and other forms of data.

Binary files, unlike text ones, they are not so easy to view and, as a rule, they do not contain words familiar to us - only a lot of incomprehensible symbols. These files are not intended to be directly read by humans. Examples binary files are executable programs and files with graphic images.

Each file on the disk has a designation ( full name), which consists of 2 parts: name And extensions, separated by a dot.

File name extension- an optional sequence of characters added to the file name and intended to identify the type (format) of the file. This is one of the common ways in which a user or computer software can determine the type of data stored in a file.

In early operating systems, the length of the extension was limited to three characters; in modern operating systems, this limitation is not present.

The operating system or file manager can create mappings between file extensions and applications.

When a user opens a file with a registered extension, the program corresponding to that extension is automatically launched. Some extensions indicate that the file itself is a program. Often the file extension is displayed to the user by an icon.

Drivers

A variety of devices can be interfaced with a PC: video card, sound card, printer, scanner, manipulators, disk drives, digital cameras, Cell Phones... Each of them has its own set of commands - its own “language”. In order for a specific operating system to control a specific device, they resort to the help of “translator” programs that know, on the one hand, the command language of a specific device, and on the other, the language of the specific operating system under which this device should operate.

This program is called driver(driver) and is supplied with the device by its manufacturer. Hardware manufacturers, as a rule, also post drivers for devices they create on their websites.

The efforts of manufacturers, supported by powerful marketing support, have become widely known computer technology to promote solutions open-source software(open source software). In modern official usage in Russian, this phenomenon is usually called free software(SPO).

The essence of the concept consists of several principles for the creation and distribution of open source software:

  • availability of source codes for everyone;
  • distribution licensing policy based on one of the community approved licenses (see opensource.org);
  • the ability to directly participate in the development and correction of errors in the software on your own;
  • the ability to change some software functions and adapt to new conditions (subject to the availability of changes to the entire community);
  • maximum compatibility with open standards;
  • ability to work in various operating systems and on several platforms (cross-platform).

These principles are used to create the majority

SPO. It is worth noting that there is a noticeable difference between free And free BY. Despite the fact that most open source software licenses provide for free distribution, this property alone is not enough for the software to be considered free.

Open source has already won a number of important victories over the strongest of proprietary software manufacturers. Specifically, the web server Apache is far ahead of similar products from other companies (including Microsoft) in terms of market share due to its low cost, independence from suppliers, the presence of many users with experience in its administration and support from developers. Linux surpassed all other types in terms of supply volumes Unix for platform Intel, including the long-held leadership SCO. Open source DBMSs occupy a strong position in the markets for open source operating systems and popular low-end Internet solutions. The threat to proprietary software comes from the benefits of open source software, which are similar to those of the Internet, i.e. openness, freedom of adaptation, etc.

Free software already has a strong presence in the sector of server operating systems, Internet infrastructure, web application servers, database management systems for small businesses and departments based on web databases with dynamic generation of web pages, technical and embedded computing systems, as well as software for server devices. Speaking of Internet infrastructure, it should be noted that most devices run operating systems and other open source software. These devices include domain name servers, routers, switches, firewalls, gateways, load balancers, application and database servers, etc.

Given these advances, open source software poses a threat to firms whose primary source of revenue is client access fees and licensing fees for proprietary software. Open source brings the hardware market's obsolescence and commoditization business model to software—a model that is difficult for a traditional software vendor, especially a leader, to adapt to.

Many of the vendors using open source business models did not develop as traditional software providers to begin with. As open source market share grows and its position in strategic online markets grows, legacy software providers are recognizing the threats posed by open source and the opportunities presented by new business models. Naturally, traditional software providers have the opportunity to adopt these business models in whole or in part, depending on their product range. But even so, open source poses a tangible and very real threat to the way software companies do business.

There are four main threats to closed companies from open source.

  • Price pressure. Since open source licenses essentially require free distribution of software and its modifications, prices for similar traditional products need to be reduced to keep up with open source software and combat the loss of market share. For example, SCO cannot charge $2,000 for Unix for platform Intel, while Linux available for free, a Microsoft monopolizes the desktop sector. Traditional vendors, however, can partially recoup their losses by making their software products better than SP O's and charging extra for it.
  • Quite good functionality."Good enough" software (but not the best) can partially displace products from traditional software vendors, which are too often aimed at the mass market. More complex (and expensive) functionality in its early stages of development is always aimed at a relatively small group of specialist users. But even manufacturers operating in this market still need to clearly understand that the market for highly developed software will expand and deepen. If advanced functionality fails to attract a wider range of users, customers will naturally purchase open source alternatives, albeit less developed ones. In very large mass markets, dominant open source software providers, in addition to increasing their supply volumes, have a lot of opportunities for growth through the implementation of additional product and service strategies. The size of the mass market itself ensures lower prices due to high supply volumes, which allows end consumers to receive significant profits even with a slight increase in the cost of their products.

In some cases, open source software can even outperform traditional products in functionality. For example, Apache became the first of the web servers to introduce an Internet function popular among providers IP aliasing allowing you to host several Internet domain names on one system.

  • "Network Effects" conditioned by knowledge and study of software and tools for mass use. User training costs new technology constitute a significant portion of the total cost of ownership, exceeding the price of the software product itself. A company with a large user base familiar with the product and its accompanying tools can leverage this familiarity by releasing new versions or entering adjacent markets. This type of network effect can vary depending on the type of user - software developers use API, system administrators handle specific administration tools, users operate graphical user interfaces, and managers establish relationships with vendors. Once formed, this network of partners and users of open source solutions is no longer destroyed and allows you to solve smaller marketing problems, such as gaining adherents and customer loyalty.
  • Standardization pressure. The final threat from the open source movement is its tools and culture, which views as its enemy all sorts of technological barriers erected by traditional software vendors.

Recently, the most rapidly developing area in software is the so-called "commercialopen-source", those. JV O supported by ordinary commercial companies. The corporation should be considered one of the leaders in this direction Sun, which is developing several large projects in this sector: OpenSolaris OS DBMS MySQL office suite OpenOffice.org and virtualization environment Virtual Box. As a rule, there are several versions of such software, including a commercial one. When paying for a license, the user receives technical support, as well as in some cases special tools for convenient work that are not available under an open license. That is, for small needs, companies can use free or free versions Software, and as requests increase, buy commercial extensions without changing anything in your infrastructure and applications. Thus, the commercial version of open source software directly competes with the developments of traditional companies, for example Microsoft, which actively creates special licensing schemes for use in the Internet environment (we are talking about server software).

As a result, open source software on the Internet plays a system-forming role, supporting and developing the basic principles of building the Network. In addition, the use of open source software is relevant from the point of view of focusing on the provision of services instead of the sale of goods. Therefore, when creating Internet systems, it is worth focusing on open standards and software that implements them, since only this way will provide the opportunity for business development and obtaining new opportunities in electronic markets.

The use of open source software to support Internet technologies is natural and necessary from the point of view of the properties of scaling, globality and compatibility. For example, increasing the number of servers or other infrastructure devices does not require additional software investment, which provides greater flexibility than with proprietary software. This becomes especially true when the cost of software exceeds the hardware component of the project. The requirements of globality and compatibility are implemented thanks to good support for cross-platform open source software and the use of open standards, which allows maintaining a high level of compatibility even with many competing products and platforms on the market.

In light of modern developments of service applications based on web technologies, open source software in combination with inexpensive computers (nettops and netbooks) can significantly displace traditional desktop and mobile systems, the basis of which is the operating system Windows and traditional office suites. Using a lightweight, custom OS with a kernel-based GUI Linux and modern web browsers allows you to perform most everyday tasks on netplatforms using only open source software.

In the 1990s, free software was considered exotic in the corporate environment, and the only noticeable competitor of the proprietary giants led by Microsoft for a long time was Red Hat, but since the second half of the 2000s, the situation began to change rapidly. Open source software has become mainstream for many large companies, and dozens of trusted open source software vendors have emerged who have achieved the appropriate high level of expertise and experience to serve large and demanding enterprise clients.

As of 2014, there are many players who are successfully competing with commercial software providers in a number of areas. In addition to Red Hat, these are open software-oriented organizations such as Google, Apache Software, Novell, SUSE, Acquia, etc. More and more OpenSource analogues of existing proprietary solutions are appearing on the market. Open source communities are becoming stronger and improving the quality and functionality of products.

As a rule, the development itself is offered free of charge, and it is commercialized through support and customization. This creates additional competition and, as a result, promotes development open source software new products.

In almost all industries and areas of activity, it is possible to use software based on open source code. Almost every proprietary software has a working open source counterpart:

  • Cisco VPN – OpenVPN,
  • Oracle Database – PostgreSQL,
  • Microsoft Hyper-V – OpenVZ,
  • MS Active Directory - Samba,
  • Avaya IP Office – Asterisk, etc.)

Based on specific business objectives, you can compare the cost and time frame for implementing a solution based on proprietary software and OpenSource.

Open source software in countries around the world

USA

In March 2016, the US Presidential Administration presented a preliminary version of the bill on use by government departments. Market participants supported the initiative.

According to a document released by the White House, American government agencies can share the source code for certain projects with each other in order to increase their efficiency and eliminate the need to develop the product from scratch. Read more about this.

India

In October 2011, it was reported that the Punjab government had decided to purchase software from Microsoft, reversing a 2008 decision to install free software on 46,000 computers in 4,956 schools. "We have decided to reconsider the previous decision," said Baldeo Purushartha, the state's school education minister.

The Punjab government launched an IT program for students of classes 6 to 12 in 2004-2005. The Punjab ICT Education Department is implementing a project under which computer labs with the necessary equipment, software and broadband Internet connection are being set up in all primary schools. At the same time, the Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS), tested and certified by the Linux Foundation for use in schools, received wide support at the government level due to its affordability.

According to the Punjab State President, as of 2008, the minimum cost for upgrading Microsoft-licensed software - covering 16,578 computers at Rs 1,375 per computer - was Rs 23 million over five years. For this reason, in September 2008, the Government of Punjab decided to purchase and install BOSS in all government primary schools and stated that from 2011, all primary school students will be trained in the use of BOSS. Work was completed in April 2011, including the training of 6,600 teachers.

But on August 8, 2011, after a comprehensive review of the results of the project, the head of the Punjab state school education department announced that `the school education department will return to using Microsoft software... for teaching children in the primary classes of government schools.' The cost of updating the licenses will be around Rs 7 million, of which Rs 3.77 million has already been allocated by the government.

Moreover, around 90,000 computers will be installed in government schools connected to the EDUASAT network through which students will be able to watch live broadcasts of various lectures. According to preliminary calculations, the initial price of the Microsoft software and license will be 30 million rupees. This amount does not include the price of equipment, etc.

Earlier, in February 2011, it was decided to use BOSS to work in the EDUASAT network. But now, in the words of Purushart: `In order to make the fullest possible use installed computers, in which students will learn Microsoft software, we want to use Microsoft in EDUASAT` as well.

Note that Punjab was the first state to actively implement Linux in schools. Currently, BOSS is still used in the Indian states of Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

Germany

According to a recent study by the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), Germany ranks fourth in the world in terms of open source software penetration in the public sector. In 2001, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (and with it all embassies and consulates) switched to Linux. The consulting company McKinsey has confirmed several times that the foreign policy department saves significantly by using Linux, OpenOffice and Thunderbird instead of the Microsoft suite of Windows, Office and Outlook. It was even said that diplomats spend less on IT than employees of any other government agency.

But the trick is that shareware software is sometimes more expensive to operate than unconditionally paid software. Dinosaurs like Microsoft can provide better and cheaper support than small Linux support companies. And sometimes it is more profitable to buy a license. Therefore, for example, the same German foreign policy department is returning to Microsoft software this year. Officials valued the permanent problems with technical support in terms of money, as well as the difficulty in mastering open software (many employees complained about this) and spoke in the spirit that the stingy pays twice.

Russia

Decisions of the government and the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, domestic open source software was introduced in all schools in 2008 Russian Federation and will be installed in all government and budget organizations to ensure national security in the IT sector.

Project "Penguin" - implementation of Open Source Software

Project "Penguin" is a project for introducing Linux Technologies and Open Source Software into schools and universities in Russia in 2009-2010. funded by FAO - Federal Education Agency of the Russian Federation. According to the contract for Project Penguin, three stages must be completed:

  1. Finalization of textbooks and methodological support
  2. Development of technical support and Internet portals
  3. Training 60 thousand teachers in Linux technologies and Open Source

1. The development of basic Textbooks in computer science for universities and schools based on Open Source software in accordance with state standards and the requirements of the Unified State Exam in computer science and ICT was completed in 2008-09. 2. Development of Internet support with basic computer science textbooks and basic Open Source software packages for Windows and Linux was carried out in 2005-2009. 3. Trial courses for computer science teachers and school teachers on Linux Technologies and Open Source Software were conducted and tested in 2005-2007. together with the Moscow pedagogical universities Moscow State Pedagogical University and Moscow State Pedagogical University with the support of UNESCO, IBM Corporation and Linux Center.

    • Higher Attestation Commission, prof., doctor of computer sciences 16:32, October 15, 2009 (UTC)

Open source software - opinion of the President of the Russian Federation

At this meeting D.A.Medvedev said:

"...If we sit down now completely on the needle of foreign software and “mortgage” for many years, then we will not get off it. And we will develop contrary to global trends. At the same time, it is also impossible to announce that tomorrow we will transfer all computers in schools (and potentially a much more serious network of computers) to open source programs with a free license, because there are connection problems, there are technological problems. That is, there is no complete readiness here either. What to do?

We offer take a compromise path, and this path has now begun to be realized. For three years, purchase a license package from basic programs(we mean, first of all, operating systems, archivers, offices, editors, “photoshops” - in general, everything that is usually used by users, including in schools), but at the same time, do not stop, but work on a domestic package open access programs (and now we’ll talk about this in more detail), so that later, ultimately in three years (if it happens earlier, even better),

Create such an optimal model, in which schools and, potentially, all government agencies will be able to choose what they need: either continue to use commercial products at their own expense, and not at the expense of federal funds, or switch to a system that is already completely adapted, acceptable to them, based on open access , open source..."

December 2010: Putin ordered the transfer of power to Linux

The history of the document on the transition of government authorities to free software has been going on since 2007, when the Ministry of Information and Communications began to develop the “Concept for the development of the development and use of free software in the Russian Federation,” which was published in the spring of 2008. However, the resignation of Minister Leonid Reiman and the appointment of Igor Shchegolev's appointment to his position entailed a revision of the concept.

Despite this, in the spring of 2008, a few days before the transfer of power to Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, while still President of Russia, mentioned the plan for migration to open source software for federal institutions in the list of his instructions to the government, thus setting this task to himself.

Open Source Packages for Schools

Open Source Packages for schools are designed for installation of programs in schools and home computers with operating Windows systems and Linux. The Linux Live-CD is designed to work with Open Source software on home computers with Windows without installing Linux on the computer.

Decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation domestic open source software in 2008 and 2009 was sent to all schools in the Russian Federation and will be installed in all government and budget organizations to ensure national security in the IT field.

Open Linux operating system

Open office software package

Open office suite Open Office can be freely installed and used not only on personal computers with Linux OS, but also on computers with Windows OS. At the same time, documents and files prepared in the MS Office office suite can be read and processed in the Open Office suite.

Composition of the Open office suite Open Office:

  1. OpenOffice.org Writer- Writer text editor with rich capabilities for creating letters, books, reports, newsletters, brochures and other documents, compatible with MS Office.
  2. OpenOffice.org Calc- Calc spreadsheets have the advanced analysis, charting and decision-making capabilities expected of a high-quality spreadsheet, compatible with MS Office.
  3. OpenOffice.org Impress- Impress presentation editor provides all common media presentation tools such as special effects, animation and drawing tools. Compatible with the Microsoft PowerPoint file format, and can also save your work in numerous graphics formats, including Macromedia Flash (SWF).
  4. OpenOffice.org Base- the Base database provides tools for working with databases within simple interface. It can create and edit forms, reports, queries, tables, views and relationships so that managing the associated database is almost the same as other popular database applications. Base includes HSQLDB as its default relational database engine. It can also use dBASE, Microsoft Access, MySQL or Oracle, or any ODBC or JDBC compatible database.
  5. Open Office Draw Draw is a vector graphics editor that can be used to create everything from simple diagrams or flowcharts to 3D artwork. Draw can import graphics from many common formats and save them in more than 20 formats, including PNG, HTML, PDF and Flash.
  6. Gimp- raster graphics editor Gimp, a program for creating and processing raster graphics. Vector graphics are partially supported.

Open text editor Writer

OpenOffice.org Writer is a word processor and visual hypertext editor, part of OpenOffice.org and is free software (released under the LGPL license).

Writer is similar to Microsoft Word and the functionality of these editors is approximately equal. Provides the user with modern tools for typing, editing and formatting documents.

Along with the familiar interface and functionality:

* creating and designing paragraphs of text and pages, * adding sections and footers, * inserting images and multimedia objects, * previewing and printing documents, * recording changes and reviewing texts, * automatically creating tables of contents, indexes and footnotes, * adding macros and controls, * working with tables, * spell checking and much more,

The concept of applying styles is a great solution that makes it easier to create and format documents. Working with styles is supported in all components of the office suite, but it is in OpenOffice.org Writer that it is most fully implemented.

Five groups of styles: paragraphs, characters, pages, frames and lists provide the user with many options for easily formatting documents. A special “Styles and Formatting” panel allows you to manage styles, changing existing ones and creating new ones. And the more complex the document, the more often it has to be changed, the more obvious the advantage of styling becomes.

Another tool, Navigator, provides the ability to quickly navigate through a document by selecting headings, footnotes, sidebars, or other objects as reference points.

As with other components, Writer has a large number of add-ons (extensions) that improve the basic functionality of the component or provide additional functions, such as grammar checking or publishing to MediaWiki.

Writer supports a wide range of formats for importing and exporting files, including saving to PDF and importing docx. And sending a file via e-mail carried out at the touch of a button.

Open Calc Spreadsheets

start: OpenOffice.org Calc is an application for working with spreadsheets. With its help, you can analyze the input data, do calculations, make forecasts, summarize data from different sheets and tables, build charts and graphs.

Calc is a current and popular OpenOffice.org component for working with spreadsheets in the business environment. A favorite tool for accountants and managers for creating reports.

Step-by-step input of formulas into spreadsheet cells using the Wizard facilitates the formation of complex and nested formulas, demonstrates descriptions of each parameter and the final result at any input stage.

Conditional formatting and cell styles help you organize your data, while pivot tables and graphs show you the results of your work.

More than two dozen file import and export formats, including text import functions, allow you to operate with almost any data. You can also use a special tool to import data from other sources, such as databases, and you can create an updated range so that the imported data is always up to date.

Links between different spreadsheets and joint editing of data are supported (starting with OpenOffice.org version 3.0).

Various settings are available for printing finished sheets on a printer: scale, margins, footers. And the built-in spell check, like in a text editor, will improve the quality of the finished report.

Open vector graphics editor Draw

OpenOffice.org Draw- a vector graphics editor, comparable in functionality to CorelDRAW, part of OpenOffice.org.

Vector graphic editor Draw is a drawing tool that uses vector graphics. It contains a number of services that allow you to quickly create all types of drawings. Vector graphics allow you to save and display images as vectors (two dots and a line) rather than as a series of pixels (dots on the screen). Vector graphics make it easy to save and resize images.

graphic editor Draw perfectly integrated into the OpenOffice.org system, which makes it very easy to exchange drawings between any modules of the system. For example, if you create a drawing in Draw, you can easily use it in a Writer document by copying and pasting. You can also work with graphics directly in the Writer and Impress modules, using a subset of the functions and tools from Draw.

The package includes fully functional "connectors" between shapes that can use a variety of line styles and allow you to draw drawings such as flowcharts.

The need for a vector editor as part of an office suite is beyond doubt. The scope of application of such an editor is quite wide: from the simplest drawings and advertisements to diagrams, diagrams and drawings.

In addition to your own objects, you can insert diagrams, formulas, and other elements created in other OpenOffice.org components into your drawings. Draw also supports exporting raster images of most formats, both common and specialized.

Draw has all the necessary tools inherent in vector editors:

* Connecting lines, dimension lines, tables.

In addition to your own objects, you can insert diagrams, formulas, and other elements created in other OpenOffice.org components into your drawings. Draw also supports exporting raster images of most formats, both common and specialized.

* Working with text and text effects;

* Change color fill, shadow, transparency; * Placing, linking and managing objects using slides, layers and guides;* Various operations on objects are supported: addition, subtraction, grouping and transformation of shapes;

The maximum size of a drawing in Draw is 300x300 cm.

Starting with version 3.0 of OpenOffice.org, Draw supports not only export, but also PDF import (installation of a special OpenOffice.org extension is required).

Open relational database Base

Base is an open relational database that allows you to create, edit and process tabular data.

Users are provided with quite big set data and table processing tools: editors of forms, queries, reports, database tables. With their help, you can analyze input data, do calculations, make forecasts, summarize data from different sheets and tables, build charts and graphs.

The query editor allows you to create almost the entire range of SQL queries to databases for selecting, changing, and adding data. Nested queries and queries with parameters are supported. The visual part of the editor will simplify the process of constructing queries for a novice user.

The form editor allows you to use almost any standard database content management tool. It provides controls for text, numeric, binary fields, lists, drop-down lists, tables, buttons, calendar and other elements.

a tool for working with external data sources plus a built-in HSQLDB DBMS. Using Base, you can add, delete, edit database records: MySQL, HSQLDB (usually bundled with OpenOffice.org), PostgreSQL, DB2, Oracle.

It is also possible to work with DBF tables, MS Access, address books, text files, as well as spreadsheets created in OpenOffice.org Calc or MS Excel.

External data sources are accessed using ODBC, JDBC, SDBC and other technologies. The full list of supported technologies and data sources depends on the operating system used.

More complex management and data processing is performed using macros and the OOBasic programming language.

The table editor will help you create and manage tables in the embedded HSQLDB database, as well as with some possible limitations for other databases.

Base has a built-in report wizard with basic functions for creating reports or tables or queries. But there is a better reporting tool - Sun Report Builder. This tool allows you to create reports of almost any complexity. It supports grouping, built-in custom functions, conditional formatting. The result of SRB's work is a Writer or Calc document, which can later be printed or edited.

With Base you can create data sources. For example, by organizing a connection to external base data in Base and filtering the necessary data with an SQL query, you can work with this data in OOo Calc.

Open programming systems

  1. FreePascal 2.0.4 - Free Pascal and Object Pascal Compiler - Lazarus or KDevelop is recommended as an IDE.
  2. Eclipse- An open set of open programming systems for the development of modular cross-platform applications.
  3. Gambas- free programming system 2)VISUAL BASIC IDE for creating programs based on Qt, GTK, OpenGL, SDL and CGI WEB

Minimum Open Source Package for Schools

Includes Open Source programs

  1. graphical environment XFCE;
  2. fast text editor Abiword;
  3. Gnumeric spreadsheet editor.

Minimum Open Source software package:

  1. Office package: OpenOffice.org 2.3;
  2. Web browser: Firefox 2.0;
  3. Image editor: Gimp 2.4;

Additional disk Contains programs for schools and other educational institutions:

  1. Web page editor Bluefish;
  2. Programming languages pascal (Free Pascal and Lazarus), basic (gambas), logo (KTurtle);
  3. Mathematical calculation systems (Maxima and Scilab);
  4. Antivirus ClamAV and Squid caching server, PostgreSQL DBMS

Optimized for installation and operation on computers from 128 to 256 MB of memory and a processor from PI 233 MHz.

Linux LiveCD

Linux CD Live-CD is designed to work with Open Source software on home computers with Windows without Linux installations on a computer.

CD L Inux Live CD optimized to work with a CD for installing Linux on a computer with 128 to 256 MB of memory and a PI 233 MHz processor. Sessions are supported, allowing you to save settings and documents in your home folder between reboots.

The option with the lowest hardware requirements provides acceptable performance even on systems with 128 MB of memory.

Includes the XFCE graphical environment; This distribution includes the lightweight and fast text editor Abiword and the spreadsheet editing program Gnumeric.

In addition, the first disc contains:

  1. Office package: OpenOffice.org 2.3;
  2. Web browser: Firefox 2.0;
  3. Email: Claws Mail;
  4. Working with images: Gimp 2.4;
  5. and more than 1000 programs that allow you to solve a wide range of problems.

School server

School Server- a server operating system with wide functionality, fully customizable via a web interface through which components are managed.

Compound:

  1. web applications to help organize the educational process:
  2. Moodle - a system of distance and interactive learning, contains examples of courses;
  3. Mediawiki - a system for organizing a “knowledge base” using Wiki technology;

for organizing a local network:

  1. DHCP and DNS servers;
  2. Squid proxy server (with support for displaying access statistics);
  3. firewall;
  4. network interface management;
  5. exact time server;
  6. file servers:
  7. Samba server (for organizing access to directories accessible via the Samba protocol);
  8. FTP server;
  9. interface for creating local mirrors of repositories;
  10. CUPS print server;
  11. MySQL (for Moodle and Mediawiki);
  12. Apache2 web server;
  13. interface for system updates (including setting up updates);
  14. backup;
  15. account management (ability to import accounts from the 1C:Chronograph system);
  16. mail server with support for anti-virus and anti-spam tools.
    • Higher Attestation Commission, prof., doctor of computer sciences 04:29, July 19, 2009 (UTC)

Open source software in Russia

Currently, open source software is beginning to become widespread in the Russian education system, one of the reasons for which is the widespread illegal distribution of commercial closed import software.

By government decisions, domestic open source software was introduced in all schools of the Russian Federation in 2008 and will be installed in all government and budget organizations to ensure national security in the IT field.

Open source software can be freely installed and used in all schools, offices, universities and on all personal computers and in all government, budgetary and commercial organizations and institutions in Russia and the CIS countries in accordance with the General Public License (GPL).

    • Higher Attestation Commission, prof., doctor of computer sciences 09:50, July 16, 2009 (UTC)

Open source software in schools and universities

Using Open Source Software and Linux Technologies in Moscow schools and universities began in 2005-2006. after holding school-seminars “Linux Technologies and Open Source Software” together with IBM Corporation and UNESCO on the basis of Moscow State Pedagogical University.

In 2007 By decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation, basic open source software packages were recommended for implementation in all schools in Russia and use for teaching computer science and information technology in all computer science classrooms in all schools in the Russian Federation.

Background of the basic packages computer science programs, their development, implementation and distribution to schools in Russia and the CIS countries began in the late 90s, when basic software packages were developed for domestic personal computers BK, Corvette and UKNC and distributed as Open and Free Software for schools.

All secondary schools in Russia in 2008-2009 received basic packages of licensed commercial and free open source software for training computer literacy, basics of computer science and new information technologies with Windows and Linux operating systems.

In four regions of Russia in 2008-2009 Work has been launched to introduce and use basic software packages for computer science and computer science classrooms in secondary schools, and training has begun for teachers and computer science instructors in the technology of working with open source software in Windows and Linux environments.

According to Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation, training in computer literacy and informatics should be accompanied by legal education in training to protect information in computers, protect against computer viruses, porn sites and ensure information security in local and global networks Computer based on free open source software.

In 2007, the first computer science textbooks were released for universities and schools to teach computer science in accordance with state education standards with free open commercial proprietary software in Windows and Linux.

    • Higher Attestation Commission, prof., doctor of computer sciences 09:51, July 16, 2009 (UTC)

Definition of Open Source

Definition of Open Source) is used by the Open Source Initiative to determine the extent to which a software license complies with Open Software (Open Source) standards. Based on the Debian Free Software Directives, mostly written by Bruce Perens.

The definition consists of ten license requirements to Open Software:

  1. Free distribution. This means that the license should not impose restrictions on the sale and distribution of the software.
  2. Available source texts. Even if the software does not come with source code, the source code should be easily accessible.
  3. Possibility of modification. The mere ability to read the source code does not allow experimenting with them and releasing modifications
  4. Even if the author's source code is inviolable, derivative programs and their source codes should be freely distributed.
  5. No discrimination against people or groups of people. Some countries, such as the USA, have some restrictions on software exports.
  6. No discrimination based on purpose of use. A free license should allow all types of activities, including genetic and nuclear research, commercial applications, etc.
  7. License distribution. The rights associated with Open Source Software should apply to all users of the program without additional agreements such as non-disclosure agreements.
  8. The license must not restrict other software products. With the exception of banal incompatibility, the user has the right to choose what to use.
  9. The license must be technology neutral. That is, the license must not require anything from the interface or technology used in the derivative program.
  10. The license should not be tied to a specific product. Rights to software code should not depend on whether the program is part of a product. A person who distributes a program separately from the collection or transfers part of the code to another product has the same rights as the collection gave.

How computer programs are created

A computer program is a list of instructions given to a computer to cause it to perform a specific task or series of tasks. Computers do not understand English, so programmers must communicate these instructions to the computer in a language that the computer understands. Computers, however, can only work with numbers, which makes computer language very difficult for humans to understand.

The solution to this problem is to create an intermediate language that can be understood by both humans and computers. These are the so-called programming languages. Programmers create a list of instructions for a computer in a programming language such as C, Pascal, or Fortran. This list of instructions is known as source code. It is textual in nature and is readable by people - those who speak the language. Programmers do all their work in this source code, modifying instructions to fix bugs, add features, or change appearance programs.

When a programmer believes that he has perfected the instructions for his program, he uses special program, called a compiler, to translate its human-readable texts into machine-readable numbers that follow the same instructions. The resulting file is usable on computers, but incomprehensible to humans. This is called object code. The resulting executable file is often called binary, after the number system used by the computer. This translation from source code to binary object code is a one-way process. It is not possible to translate a binary executable back to source code.

Executable file- what you need if you want to launch and use the program. This is usually what you will get when you purchase shrink-wrapped software from a retail store. Source code is what you need if you want to understand how the program works internally, or if you want to change, add, or improve the program. If you have the source code and the appropriate compiler, you can create a binary executable, but the reverse is not true.

What is Open Source?

Software that is only available in binary executable format is proprietary.

Open source software is copyrighted software that is distributed in source code form under a license agreement that grants special rights to users of the software, rights that are usually reserved by the author. This license allows all users to make and distribute copies of the software's binary files and source code without specific permission from the author. Additionally, it allows users to modify the source code and distribute modified copies.

What does this mean

You are wondering why Open Source is important. The importance lies in the fact that any programmer anywhere in the world can view the source code, fix bugs, add new features and customize the system without restrictions. This is how Linux was designed from the very beginning, and this is why Linux is a very stable system with few bugs, wide hardware support, and a feature set that is growing so fast that proprietary operating system vendors are jealous. The fact that the source code is open for review by experts around the world ensures that any problems are found and resolved quickly, and fixes can be distributed without restrictions. This is much more efficient and effective than relying on a corporation to squeeze a "update package" somewhere into their busy release schedule. After all, they don't get paid for the upgrade packages.

What really matters is that open source software belongs to the community. It is software that is maintained by a community of people (or companies) who use it. It is freely available on the Internet and anyone can use it. More importantly, users are encouraged to improve it. By sharing our improvements and ideas, connecting our resources with thousands and even millions of people around the world via the Internet, the open source community can create powerful, stable and reliable software at very little cost.

But the open source community is much more than just people who write software. Everyone who uses the software participates in a real community and has a voice. You don't need to be a programmer. Simply by reporting a bug to the author of the program or by writing a simple article with practical recommendations, you contribute to the community and help improve the software. Open source software is written, documented, distributed, and maintained by the people who use it. This means that it is sensitive to your needs, not the needs of the corporation trying to sell it to you.

Of course, many companies also contribute to open source software, making their work available to the entire community because they know the benefits of Open Source. Software that is supported by an entire community is inherently better and more stable, and more and more companies are starting to appreciate this fact.

The point is that open source software is written by people who use it every day, people who have a vested interest in making it work and working well. They're not trying to add buzzword features, they're trying to add quality. They don't spend time and money trying to convince people that their software is great, they spend it trying to make their software great.

Resources

"Open Source" is a trademarked phrase describing software licenses that meet the Open Source definition. The brand is managed by the Open Source Initiative, the collaborative organization that launched Linux and the free software movement. Only software that meets the criteria described in the open source definition can call itself open source.

Long before the term "open source" came into use, there was a community of people committed to the idea of ​​"Free Software", a phrase that refers not to cost but to the freedom to use and modify it (think of freedom as in " freedom of speech" and not "free beer"). This community continues to actively promote the ideals of free software. To find out more about this, you can visit The Free Software Foundation https://www.fsf.org/.

For an in-depth look at how and why open source software is developed, read Eric S. Raymond's excellent essay "The Cathedral and the Bazaar".

If you're considering open source software for your business, you should visit The Open Source Initiative to learn more. Take a look anyway and see how the open source community can improve the stability, scalability, and power of your business while actually cutting costs.

Many people buy various software or use hacked, pirated versions of them. Users see the program's graphical interface, but the product's code is usually hidden. In this regard, it is almost impossible to change the software, which guarantees the author protection from those who want to copy the program code and appropriate it for themselves. But, despite this, there are more and more so-called “Open Source” programs in the modern world. Let's understand what open source software is and what are its positive and negative aspects.

What can be considered open source?

Almost all software reaches the end user as ready-made software. These are fully functional programs with a nice interface and easy to use. If the code of this product is open, then anyone can change it, offer their own options for correcting the errors found, or introduce some kind of innovation. Thus, the quality of this product improves over time. Examples of open source operating systems are Linux, Unix, Ubuntu.

Everyone is familiar with Microsoft Office, an analogue of which, but with open source, is Open Office. Mozilla browsers Firefox and Google Chrome are also open source software. There are a lot of similar products, many use a large amount of software and do not suspect that any of this could be an Open Source program.

Open Source Features

For software to be called a program, it is not enough that its code is open to everyone. Such a program should be absolutely free. In addition, for further use and attempts to change the code, the user also does not have to pay anything. Anyone has the right to freely distribute this product, and, as stated above, change it. Such programs have no restrictions on the scope of application and terms of use. They can be used for doing business, scientific research, training, or for your own purposes for an unlimited amount of time.

Open Source Software License

The license for such programs is also free. There are absolutely no restrictions on application, modification, distribution, use with other compatible software. Also, it is technologically neutral to all other existing programs.

Pros and cons of Open Source programs

Unlike classic licensed programs, they are developed by a group of free programmers, and that is why they are free.

The second important advantage is that we can upgrade program data. A good programmer, having understood the code, can add new options to the program or improve the operation of existing functions. For example, user MacOS cannot change its operating system, unlike Linux, which everyone can not only customize at their own discretion, but also add any individual functions. As a result, he will get a completely new product that is very convenient to use. If the resulting program is really good, then it can be patented and even sold (!)

Another undeniable advantage of the programs is their protection from viruses. Almost all viruses are written for applications Windows, and malware for the same Linux a negligible amount. Thus, the chance of getting a virus using an open source operating system is very low.

Today, many organizations are switching to open source software. This allows you to reduce costs and minimize the likelihood of system hacking.

But, as you know, any medal has two sides, we’ll tell you about the disadvantages of Open Source programs.

If you encounter any problems with the software, you usually contact technical support. Open source programs do not have this. This problem occurs because the program has been modified by different programmers from all over the country or even the world. So you will have to look for a solution to the problem on the Internet. Internet or figure it out yourself.

The second disadvantage arises again due to the fact that anyone can change the program code. Often people's views may not coincide, and this causes conflicts in modifying the product. This can lead to the collapse of a project that many people have been working on for a long time.

Also often disguised as open source malware, distinguishing them from truly secure software can sometimes be very difficult.

Despite the fact that such programs have some disadvantages, more and more users are interested in them. All more products today are created with open source code. This means that such programs have a future and are worth paying attention to.

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