[LINK] Happy 25th Birthday, GNU C Compiler

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

The Benefits of Open Source 
George Wright  March 25, 2012


This year marks the 25th anniversary of the GNU C Compiler (shortened to 
GCC) being gifted to the world. 

In 1987 a much younger but still probably magnificently bearded Richard 
Stallman released what is arguably one of the most important 
contributions to modern computing culture - a free (both in cost and in 
liberty) C compiler. 

At the simplest level compilers are software that take instructions 
written in a human readable structured language (such as C, in this case) 
and compiles it into instructions that a computer can understand (called 
machine code). 

The output of the compiler is a package of executable software referred 
to as libraries, executables or binaries.

Richard Stallman, often referred to online simply as RMS, founded the GNU 
Project in order to create a complete free and open Unix-like operating 
system. 

GNU stands for "GNU's not Unix", a recursive acronym style of which the 
world of IT is unfortunately fond and often reuses. At the time, Unix was 
a heavily IP encumbered system and solely the domain of large research 
institutions, corporate, government and military installations. 

During the early 80’s Unix, while a firmly established technology, was 
caught up in antitrust cases between the US Department of Justice and 
Bell Systems. AT&T attempted to commercialise Unix System V but this 
threatened to hinder collaboration between computer science researchers. 

A Unix-like system, created with the principles of protecting the 
essential freedoms of programmers and users alike to run, study, modify 
and distribute software without fear of having your work controlled by 
others was seen as desirable. Since Unix was already a key computer 
science research platform with many of features that we take for granted 
today being developed and experimented with on it - legal worries, 
corporate mismanagement and proprietary controls threatened to seriously 
slow down innovation. 

It is not hard to see that taking an operating system out of the lab and 
forming a true community around it is fundamental to the rapid progress 
that IT enjoyed in the last three decades. 

At the heart of this community was the GNU toolchain and the gem that is 
the GNU compiler.

Happy birthday GCC and thank you to all the researchers, developers and 
freedom advocates that made it happen over the last 25 years.

Enough history though. The free software community is very much alive and 
continues to contribute many new technologies and innovations which can 
be shared by all.

During the week I was talking with a very large software vendor doing an 
evaluation of one of their platforms. The platform was excellent and 
exceeded my expectations and as we delved deeper into the subcomponents I 
asked what tools they were using to perform some image manipulation 
functions. Almost embarrassed, they said ImageMagick, an open source 
image editing library developed by ImageMagick Studio. It struck me as 
odd that there was still a stigma around admitting that software vendors 
use open source software as part of their offerings.

Why the shame?

Systems are more than the sum of their component parts, if using a free 
library gets you the functionality that you need and as long as you 
comply with the licence, it makes good sense. Why reinvent the wheel and 
forgo what is sometimes years of community development and testing?

This is not a free software free pass, every business should evaluate the 
pros and cons of each library or subsystem in light of their needs but to 
exclude potential solutions because of the free software/open sources 
stigma is blindness. There are legal implications if you decide to extend 
these libraries, but it is nowhere near as problematic as often made out.

I'm not demanding that you release your product under an open source 
licence. If you are in the business of software development, often your 
developers will know of these libraries and tools. Have a frank and open 
discussion with them about the potential to leverage these libraries. 
Talk about what open source libraries you are using and what your policy 
is for contributing improvements back into the community or even 
sponsoring improvements.

Finally, if your business uses community developed libraries and 
platforms, celebrate it. You are in good company.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-benefits-of-open-source-
20120324-1vqv7.html#ixzz1q6abQJG7

--
Cheers,
Stephen