Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Software [Book Review]

This book examines the history and future of free and open-source software (FOSS). It looks at the two leading organizations that promote it: the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the Open Source Initiative (OSI). The authors promote four claims: 1) FOSS is a novel way to produce software; 2) it offers social benefits that proprietary software does not; 3) it challenges notions of intellectual property; and 4) it threatens the corporate status quo. The book goes into great detail about the different approaches taken by the FSF and the ISI to promote FOSS. While some of the authors´ claims about proprietary software aren´t fully supported, some of their arguments in favor of FOSS merit some discussion.