week 7 - lecture

This weeks lecture was about software and code, primarily open source (free) software. Our generation obviously is very familiar with these. Programs such as limewire are the norm while it is now very strange if someone we know buys their music off itunes or from a music store. The legal way has been forgotten. I believe people chose to go with these open source programs and they are more relevant and effective for them. proprietary programs are created by the corporations, while open source programs and created by the people who have used the proprietary programs and believe they can improve it for the user. This is probably why the general public finds open source software so appealing. It is made by fellow users who feel the same frustration at flaws and glitches in the proprietary software. Proprietary programs include Internet Explorer, Photoshop and MS-windows. Open Source programs include Linux, Firefox and VLC. i know VLC all to well, a couple of months ago my itunes unexpectedly crashed when i went to update it. I have tried everything i can think of to restore it but it just wont work. So now i have been using VLC for months. It is no where near the quality of itunes but it will have to do until i find a way to fix it. The main aspects of the lecture focused on community, collaboration and choice. Community is based on people who want to share and do something good so the whole community benefits as helping your neighbour is not a crime. Collaboration is the idea that instead of going against copyright and breaking the law, people can work together to create something good. Choice is the ideology that you paid for your computer with your hard-earned money , it is a tool for creating and communicating. Don't let companies like Microsoft and Apple tell you how you can use your computer. As a computer user you have a choice, it's your right.