Free Open Source Software » History » Version 1
laforge, 02/27/2016 08:41 PM
1 | 1 | laforge | h1. Free / Open Source Software (FOSS) |
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3 | The founders of the Osmocom project believe in the concept of *Free and Open Source Software* (FOSS). Rather than trying to keep the source code of our implementations private and consider them a trade secret, we publish them in source code format, available for anyone. |
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5 | FOSS is popular primarily in the TCP/IP/Ethernet/Internet world. Just think of the various operating systems like GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSC. Or the various web servers like Apache, lighttpd, nginx. Or the many Soft switches for VoIP, like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, yate, lcr. |
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7 | Osmocom is pushing FOSS into the cellular infrastructure world. |
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9 | Doing so, permits a number of advantages to the user, compared to the classic, proprietary software model that was running the telecom infrastructure world for decades: |
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11 | * to the network operator |
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12 | ** light-weight, legacy-free, efficient implementations of the relevant ETSI/3GPP protocols, network interfaces and network elements |
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13 | ** free of any per-unit license fees towards Osmocom |
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14 | ** ability to customize/modify the code withou any limit. Break outside of the _black boxes_ delivered by classic vendors |
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16 | * to the researcher |
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17 | ** run your own private cellular network in the lab for testing + research |
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18 | ** observe behavior of phones in your own network, see what they really send to the network |
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19 | ** implement and test your ideas on how to optimize or improve cellular technology |
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21 | * to the student or teacher in academia: |
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22 | ** ability to study and understand how cellular networks work in practise, rather than just theory in text books |
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23 | ** ability to trace any interface, enable logging everyhere, trace through the code |