Hackers

This week’s blog will be looking into whether hackers have a positive effect on open source software.
Open source is free access to the source code of a program and extensive free redistribution rights for this software, for example Linux. This type of software appeals to hackers as they can look at how the software is made and add things to it or create their own versions. Linux is an operating system, it is the software on a computer that enables applications and the computer operator to access the devices on the computer to perform desired functions. This makes it very similar to other operating systems, such as Windows. However Steve Ballmer CEO Microsoft says that “Linux is a cancer.”




So do hackers have a positive effect on open source?
It could be argued that without hackers the internet and technology would never develop. As Mitch Kapor, says in an interview with The Guardian, “Without the internet and the web, no open source – without open source, no internet or web.” Therefore without open source and hackers the internet and other forms of technology wouldn’t develop. The Hacker values say “All information should be free.”
In my opinion hackers can have a positive effect on open source as long as what they are doing is changing things for the advantage of other users.