On September 30th, a day before an eight-days long National Holiday, Mathias Lin, as the guest speaker of this month, gave us a talk about Open Source Software (OSS). Unfortunately, on this special day, most of the people absented to gain more time for the long way back home or trip. So it wasn’t too crowded this time, but the people who stay with us were really big fans of Web Wednesday. Thanks all of the people who always supporting us, no matter they were there by person or especially click to this page now to check out this review.

9月30 日，8日国庆长假来临的前夕，这天，担任本月客席主讲的Mathias Lin与我们共同探讨开源软件。 遗憾的是，在这特殊的一天，大部分的人都必须为他们回家的漫长旅途或者长途旅行争取一些时间，以至于他们非常可惜地不能参 与。所以本次的活动并不是像往常一样人头涌涌，不过那些能够留下来和我们一起的观众确实是Web Wednesday的超级粉丝。感谢所有一直支持我们的人，无论是能够亲身到来的朋友，还是现在特别点击这个页面来看看活动回顾的朋友。

Mathias

Back to the review of the Web Wednesday.

让我们正式回到Web Wednesday回顾这个主题吧。

Our guest speaker Mathias is founder and managing director at SYSVISION Ltd. (Hong Kong) as well as Vice President, Products & Technologies at SYSVISION USA, Inc. He gave us a good speech about OSS.

我们本次的客席主讲Mathias是汉智科技（香港）的创始人和常务董事，同时也是美国汉智科技产品及技术的副总裁。他为我们作了一次非常好的关于开源软件的演讲。

Audience

To make the audiences learn easier, Mathias Lin started his topic with the introduction of OSS. He told us the technical and function definition of OSS by showing the differences in the excerpted, between Windows XP and GNU Public License. In general, Open Source Software is the software with no-maximum legal licence, and also you can see or use the source code. He help people to redefine the concept of “Free” to tell the differences between Free Software and Open Source Software. Here is the “Free” he metioned:

为了让观众们更容易理解，Mathias Lin以介绍开源软件作为他演讲主题的开端。并以Windows XP与GNU Public License说明书上的不同作为例子，为我们阐述了OSS在技术上和操作程序上的定义。总的来说，开源软件就是一个没有合法使用权限人数上限，并且让你 能够看见甚至使用它们的源代码的软件。Mathias帮助人们修正免费的概念，以此来区分免费软件和开源软件。以下就是他提到的“免费”的内容：

Aaron and Alice

What is free?

1. Free as in beer ($)

2. Free as in freedom (gnu.org):

–Freedom to modify, fix, and redistribute
–Freedom from corporate control
–Freedom of expression
–Plus freedom to integrate, freedom from ads

3. Freedom from vendor lock-in…

All open source software is cost-free, but not all cost-free software is open source.

什么是免费？

1. 免费，和免费啤酒一样

2. 免费，获得使用自由

-拥有随意修改，维护和重新调配的自由
-没有公司操纵的自由
-表达方式的自由
-加上资源整合的自由，而且没有广告

3. 没有了厂商对使用内容锁定，拥有了自由

所有的开源软件都是免费使用的，但并不是所有的免费软件都是开源的

Freedom from the “Free” is what Mathias pointed out. He also showed us some OSS in use and made a simple introduction.

从免费中获得了自由就是Mathias强调的点。他再后来也给我们展示了一些人们正在使用开源软件和简单地对他们做了一些介绍。

He also shared the benefit of OSS and how to build a business model afterward.

其后，他也和大家分享了开源软件的优点，还有怎样的建立一个商业模式。

Open source has practical benefits for all:

–“Better”: More stable, secure, interoperable
–You can make a difference
–Little or no licensing cost, upgrade costs
–Good community support, direct line to developers
–Lower system requirements
–Vendor independence

开源软件拥有切实的优点：

-更好：更加稳定、安全、更能共同操纵
-你可以把他变得不一样
-非常少或者没有权限使用费用，和更新费用
-非常好的群体支持，可以直接和开发者取得联系
-更低的系统要求
-独立的厂商

Jonny

Most of the developers will think it is insane to let people know their mystery code for free. But Mathias explained that there is motivation for developers to work on OSS. In his opinion, for 4 reasons, developers would give it away: the benefit from previous work of others; better software, when others can fix it; many hands make light work; part of the business model. Because of the good feelings from any volunteerism, the respect, fame, pride in one’s creation etc, working for free would become reality to some developers.

大部分的开发者都会觉得让其他人免费知道他们的神奇代码是非常傻的一件事。不过，Mathias解 释道，对于开发者来说，是有一定的动力去驱使他们去做开源 软件的开发的。他认为，有四个原因开发者会让人家去了解他们的神奇代码：首先是他们自己能够得益于前人的工作；另外，当有其他人可以维护的时候，就会有更 好的软件；人多力量大，工作更轻松；最后，这也是一种商业模式。基于任何一个志愿者都会产生满足感，而且，自己从创作能够得到了尊重、声望、与骄傲，等等 这些原因，对一些开发者来说免费的劳动也会成为现实。

Little, Jev and Cici

Moreover, Mathias also mentioned some problems and obstacles in OSS. Before the Q&A, he listed some current status and trends of OSS.

另外，Mathias也提到了一些开源软件的存在问题和发展障碍。在问答环节之前，他也列出了一些开源软件最新的现状和趋势。

Photos by: Cecilia and Aaron

摄影: Cecilia and Aaron

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现在就加入Web Wednesday 广州 Facebook群组吧！