An introduction to
OSS and its impact on the language industry
FRANK BERGMANN
Open-source software (OSS) is already part
of the mainstream information technology. Most medium-sized
and large companies in the world are already using it in some
way or another. Apart from being cheaper, OSS is considered
to be more secure and more flexible than its commercial counterparts.
Corporate customers love the independence from a particular
software vendor and the possibility to customize the software
to the company's needs, thus making it difficult for closed-software
providers to compete with OSS.
However, OSS just recently became the candidate
for "the next big thing" in the IT industry, the driver of
a major wave of change that might radically alter the market
forces, comparable only to the introduction of the PC or the
internet. But this time, the revolution is not that much about
technology, but about the business models of the IT companies.
This article explores some of these potential changes and
how they might affect localization customers and providers.
The Rise of Open-source Software
Before starting to discuss the impact of
OSS on the software localization process, we need to understand
how OSS went from its roots to conquest of the corporate world.
OSS was "born" in the 1960s and 1970s in the university and
research environment. Researchers started to use computer
programs for their activities and, working in a non-competitive
environment, began to share the resulting computer programs
among them just as they shared their research findings. These
groups of collaborating software developers are today known
as "open-source developer communities."
These early open-source developers wanted
to make sure, however, that they were recognized as the authors
of the code, in a manner similar to the scientific system
of quoting research publications. So the GNU Public License
(GPL) software license emerged, implementing the scientific
citation rule in the domain of intellectual property rights.
The GPL advocates that everybody can use, modify and redistribute
"GPLed" software, provided that the initial authorship information
is maintained. However, modifications and additions to GPLed
software are GPLed again, creating what is known today as
a "viral effect." The GPL "infects" other code when combined
so that the body of OSS grows and grows.
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