Q. When you write a code that's open source, how do you determine what the license is?

Rob: There are websites that help you to choose which license you want to put your code under. Typically, you'll put a comment in the source code that says ‘This file is licensed under the General Public License.” GitHub encourages you to put a license on your property, so that it's clear the terms under which it could be distributed, used, and modified. GitHub has been working on improving this because there's a bit of a problem of people writing code and then not clearly licensing it so you’re not sure if it’s free or not.

Q. Is there a way to make sure that raw code that you've created isn’t used with evil intent?

Rob: There are some licenses that actually do say something like “This can't be used for evil.” They're actually a bit of a pain because it's very hard to legally determine whether something is good or evil. If you're a company and you're trying to choose whether you can use the software, your lawyers will probably advise that you shouldn't use it because it's not clear that you have a right to use it until you find a legal way to prove that you are good or you're not evil.

So typically, folks like the Free Software Foundation will reject these licenses because they contain the restriction about who is allowed to use the software, which means that the Four Freedoms are no longer being respected.

Q. Are open source products more or less safe or reliable than private products?

Rob: Certainly security specialists will spend a lot more time looking at open source software and finding issues with it, which means people can actually see problems and talk about them and fix them. You develop a herd immunity, since that software has been seen by more eyes, is more widely used in ways that are more likely find its limits and fix them. So, there's been a rise in the idea that open source software can be of a higher quality in terms of security, reliability and robustness. The more widely used something is, and the more scrutinized and tested it is, you'd expect the quality to improve.

Q. How often do you interact with the people in the free software community?

Rob: The thing that's really unique and fascinating about free and open source software is that the popular projects aren't just a technology thing, they're also a community that comes together around the shared goals of those projects. There are thousands of open source projects across the Internet and the world. They've all come together around the shared purpose of creating something for the greater good. You can go in and read the work of other people, learn about a particular space, go to events, contribute to communities, and have a sense of belonging. That's something I enjoyed when I was growing up. My parents let me get on a train and go to the other side of the country and meet some guys who I'd met on the Internet at a barbecue. I'm still friends with some of them 20 years later.

Q. How does a person get involved with these open source projects?

Rob: If you identify with the goals from these projects, you can learn how to code, design icons, write documentation, or organize a conference for two thousand people, or whatever! Taking part in these projects is a huge opportunity to learn this very commercial, actionable life and job skills.



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Rob McQueen came to Endless after 10 years as the founder and CTO of his own company, where he consulted for clients like Intel, Nokia, and Google on how to bring open source to commercial products. Learn more from Matt, speaking at the Annual GNOME Foundation conference. Then, learn more about Endless’ commitment to the GNOME Foundation’s work.