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AbstractThis article is a treatise on the alienation of Man by the computer. By showing that such a phenomenon does exist, the paper seeks ways to overcome this alienation. The answer is in the use of free software, which provides a means of empowerment and emancipation, even if the use of such software – however necessary – is not sufficient to bestow computers with any virtue of humanity.
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In this article, the author describes and explains open source software and what it represents. To this end, he examines various elements – such as designers, users, operating mechanism, etc. – and the reasons why people have turned to this type of software. Having defined and fully described the object of his research, he discusses the consequences of open source software in other fields and the issues that its use raises for public administrations. The last section of his article reviews the status of open source software in Quebec and in the province's public administration.
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The economics of open source software: cooperation and incentives to innovateAn open source software is defined by the availability of its source-code that cannot be privately appropriated. Its production is based on a special cooperative organisation mode, called the "bazaar", which functions particularly well in the context of Internet. Its functional viability till now was related to the fact that the users and developers of these software products considered themselves in the same category of actors. Today, open source software is entering the market and the existing form of organisation can now be the source of profits. The model's viability is related to its ability to sustain a high level of innovation. Hence, it depends on individual incentives to participate, and public spiritedness can no longer be relied upon as an effective substitute.
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Though software intellectual property could not satisfactorily fall into any existing legal framework, all countries have taken the decision to range it under the category of copyright. Then the double objective of intellectual property protection is not satisfied, which consists, on the one hand, to grant to the inventor a provisional monopoly for exploiting his invention and, on the other hand, to oblige him to disclose the principles of his invention. To resort to the patents system as it became more and more usual in the US and which is in debate in Europe, raise other kind of problems. Now the alternative model of Open Source Software, based on a very peculiar juridical tool called GPL « General Public Licence », tends to take a growing importance. Its main principle is to impose to its adopters to disclose the source-code of the concerned programs and of any further improvement, as well as the free circulation of the code under the sole condition to maintain its « open » character. A growing number of enterprises began to « free » part of their software products, by joining the GPL status or introducing their own « hybrid » licences, in order to control the extent of their openness. By doing that they introduce a totally different approach of intellectual property within their industrial strategies.
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