Re: [Staffslug] Fwd: [HLUG] BBC news item on open source
On Thu, 2011-03-31 at 10:12 +0100, Kevanf1 wrote:
Open source is easy to hack and that's
why it is so popular with a lot of developers, the code can be seen
and manipulated.
I'd like to blame the media for using the word 'hacking' to mean
'cracking', or maliciously breaking-in to a system for ill-gotten gains.
'Hacking' some code up for the benefit of making something work is a
completely different definition of the word and one that I doubt the
majority of ministers (or the general public, including BBC journalists)
have any grasp of.
Open-source software is easy to re-develop. In terms of the ambiguous
term 'hacking', I am loathe to say that it's 'easy to hack' for fear
of
being mis-quoted.
The way I like to explain it is that, whilst either closed or
open-source software may contain a similar number of exploits (software
popularity is usually the driving force in those being exposed) --
projects such as Firefox have proven this -- it is the 'open' code that
is almost always quickest to a fix, because any developer with an
interest can contribute a fix. When the source is closed, you're at the
mercy of the owners.
This is before anything like 'choice', 'change' or 'progress' is
brought
into the topic of 'open vs. proprietary'.
Tom