FLOSS

Definition

At Velneo we use the acronym FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open-Source Software) to refer to the phenomenon known around the world by different terms such as: "Libre software", "Free software", Open source software, Software Libre, Software libero, Swatantra software.

The FLOSS movement has used various terms depending on the geographical or idiomatic origin of the programmers.

Many companies, organizations and foundations joined this movement, but the root of this revolution created by Richard Stallman in 1983 has some philosophical and ethical fundamentals. Richard Stallman himself defines the philosophical basis for the movement as respect for the FLOSS 4 basic freedoms to:

Freedom 0
run the program for any purpose (private, educational, public, commercial, etc.)

Freedom 2
copy the program in a way that helps your neighbor or any other

Freedom 1
study and modify the program (for which it is necessary to access the source code)

Freedom 3
improve the program and publish the improvements

There are different trends revolving around this movement which has been advancing for more than 20 years in the World Software community. The most well-known organization is the FSF (The Free Software Foundation) led by Richard Stallman. The other which is quite well-known in the Anglo-Saxon world is the OSI (Open Source Initiative).

The OSI (Open Source Initiative) has replaced the term -Free- for -Open- because it generated confusion in the community as "Free" as in "Free of Charge" is not at all the aim of this movement.

The other major difference between the terms "open source" and "free software" is that the latter takes into account the ethical and philosophical aspects of freedom, while -open source- is only based on the technical aspects ratified by Eric S. Raymond in the essay entitled The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

To unite the abovementioned terms which refer to similar concepts, the use of the word -FLOSS- which means "Free - Libre - Open Source Software" is becoming more common and is the term that we support here at Velneo due to the philosophical, ethical, technical and financial advantages of this revolution.