Let's look at open source software using a real-world example. To me, the FreeDOS Project will always be the first example I look to, so I'll use that. It should speak to the commitment of the open source software community that FreeDOS continues under active (if slow) development 15 years after it was conceived. How has FreeDOS held the interest of its users? Because FreeDOS embodies the important qualities that an open source project must possess in order for it to succeed.
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DOS stands for Disk Operating System.
Click Here to explore freeDOS's new site design, now in testing stage. I think it looks much much better than the old site and is noticeably more functional. It is actually a good model for other similar software supporting sites.
Yesterday: The famous Jason and Jodi Event on the Internet. Relive it here.
Today: The anniversary of freeDOS.
The final of four guest posts by Jim Hall, of the freeDOS project is available for your considered attention at Collective Imagination: Jim Hall: Transitions in an open source software project
FreeDOS is the way software should be - even though DOS is no longer mainstream, with FreeDOS people still have access to the assembler and the code to make any modifications they need to support their legacy systems. I've still got a few copies of ancient GCC compilers and some now rather dated Linux kernels. Some people even resurrected truly ancient versions of GCC and Linux (from over 15 years ago) just to see if they can still do a build on a modern machine. (Of course they can.)