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Abstract

     “Hi, here is the URL I used, download the software, it’s free.”  Ever hear something like this?  In fact, it is quite common today amongst almost anyone with a PC.  This current trend to use “free” and “open” software is quickly becoming of interest to many “for-profit” giants like IBM, HP etc.  The current PC software field is proliferating with free software, open source, and freeware.  Many companies not only use this “free” software but also are now looking at the so-called “free model” as a technique for developing “for-profit” products.  There have been a number of papers published that have researched the open source, free software, and freeware trend looking at issues like economics, technical progress, academics, the “open model” versus “the closed model”, business strategies using the “open” model, but very few reports have been published focusing specifically on the ethical issues of open source, free software, and freeware.  This paper is a “work-in-progress” currently exploring what I refer to as the fringes of this “free” market place.  It is the beginnings of research to discover if we face an ethical dilemma, and what that dilemma(s) might be.  This report offers no definitive answer to any specific ethical or moral issue arising from this new frontier of “free-cyber-space”.

Key-words : ethics, ethical, software, freeware, open systems, open source, ethical behavior, economics, for-profit, government.

You can view the article offline at: Offline .doc

Who Should Read this Article?

     This introductory article is targeted at the IT professional interested in considering the ethics of open source and free software.

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