Thoughts on Open Source Origins

The people that different groups researched in class are some of the brightest individuals in their field and I was pleasantly surprised that they came to the conclusion to help proliferate open source software rather than increase the amount of proprietary products. One individual that I found most interesting and influential was Tim Berners-Lee, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, made a monumental contribution to the open-source community by deciding not to patent his invention. Instead, he made the web protocols and code available on a royalty-free basis. This decision not only facilitated the rapid expansion and adoption of the web but also set a precedent for the open sharing of technological innovations, embodying the spirit of the open-source movement. Another impressive supporter of open source was Marc Ewing, the creator of the Red Hat Linux distribution, who made significant contributions by making Linux more accessible and user-friendly. Red Hat’s commitment to free and open-source software not only propelled the company to success but also cemented Linux’s place in enterprises, demonstrating the commercial viability and potential of open-source projects. His accomplishment solidified open source as a viable option for making a difference while still earning a living.

My Group’s progress

My group, consisting of Alessandro and Sam, has made good progress in deciding our project candidate and we seem to work well together. We first spoke about the type of project we would like to work on and concluded that we did not want to work on something too easy or something that would be near impossible to contribute. We are all familiar with Javascript and thus searched for projects related to Web using Javascript or Typescript. We decided that we are most likely to work on the project Bitwarden which had a good amount of good first issues, many recent PRs, and a strong community. We were able to choose between their server, mobile, or web projects and we went with their web project. In case we find something inherently wrong with this project, we do have a backup project of Nuclear which is another web app project for finding free music.