Article | REF: H3218 V1

Free software

Author: Philippe AIGRAIN

Publication date: February 10, 2003

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


Français

1. History and motivation

1.1 Prehistory: basic builder software

The report by the European Working Group on Open Source Software points out that software was "free" long before there was such a thing as proprietary software, a fact now forgotten due to the dominance of proprietary approaches in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, in the 1960s, computer manufacturers - led by IBM, but also Control Data - distributed the source code of their basic computer software, allowed users to modify this code to suit their needs and, to a certain extent, encouraged the submission of these modifications in return. However, this method of distributing software was not legally codified, and was essentially due to the fact that, at the time, hardware was the main source of added value for the IT industry. In-house software development...

You do not have access to this resource.

Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference

A Comprehensive Knowledge Base, with over 1,200 authors and 100 scientific advisors
+ More than 10,000 articles and 1,000 how-to sheets, over 800 new or updated articles every year
From design to prototyping, right through to industrialization, the reference for securing the development of your industrial projects

This article is included in

Software technologies and System architectures

This offer includes:

Knowledge Base

Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees

Services

A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources

Practical Path

Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills

Doc & Quiz

Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading

Subscribe now!

Ongoing reading
History and motivation
Outline