Free ebook: Introduction to Free Software
Everton Zanella Alvarenga
What is free software? What is it and what are the implications of a
free program licence? How is free software developed? How are free
software projects financed and what are the business models associated
to them that we are experiencing? What motivates developers,
especially volunteers, to become involved in free software projects?
What are these developers like? These are the sort of questions that
we will try to answer in this book. Because although free software is
increasing its presence in the media and in debates among IT
professionals, and although even citizens in general are starting to
talk about it, it is still unknown for many people. And even those who
are familiar with it are often aware of just some of its features, and
mostly ignorant about others.