If you’ve just wandered over to FOSSwire and you’re wondering what exactly this ‘FOSS’ stuff is, or if you’re not completely sure about what exactly the free software and open source ideals are, the difference between them, or want a refresher, you’ve come to the right place.

FOSS stands for Free and Open Source Software. In fact there are many terms for this including OSS (Open Source Software), free software, FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software). Confused yet?

The ideals behind FOSS basically come down to the following points (I’ve lifted these straight from the Free Software Definition at gnu.org)

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

But hold on, to actually ‘get’ what we’re talking about here, I need to introduce a couple of concepts behind programming (please bear with me if you know what source code is, we’ll return in a second). Don’t worry, they’re not hard to understand and I promise I won’t drown you in technical language. Continue after the jump…

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Woah! Hello everybody and welcome to FOSSwire. FOSSwire is a new blog about free and open source software.

That’s a pretty big topic - so what exactly will we be focusing on? We’re obviously going to leave room to expand into new subject areas as we grow a bit, but you can expect:

• Tutorials on using, administering and building free and open source software - from how to use Linux to how to build the next open source project!
• Introductions to free and open source software - the ethics and ideals behind it and clearing up the common myths (for the complete newbie!)
• Reviews of the latest free and open source software projects
• Tips and tricks to make your experience with free and open source software better
• Advocacy - how to spread the word about FOSS
• The latest news from around the free software world

Are you ready for FOSSwire?

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