ASSIGNMENT 2

1. What is the difference between open source and free software? What is copyright and
copy left?
Ans.Open source software is software which is free to use for all and the source code is
available for all. On the other hand free software is free to use for all but the source
code is not available to general public.
Copyrights exist in order to protect authors of documentation or software from unauthorized
copying or selling of their work. A copyright infers that only with the author's permission may
such activities take place.

A Copyleft, on the other hand, provides a method for software or documentation to be

modified, and distributed back to the community

2. What is Multics? When and where it was developed?

Ans. Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) is a timesharing operating

system begun in 1965 and used until 2000. The system was started as a joint project
by MIT's Project MAC, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and General Electric Company's Large
Computer Products Division.

Arrange the following open source products in order of development time (write 1, 2, 3 … in the
space provided) (3+2)
Unix __3_
Unics __2_
Multics _1__
Linux _4__
Solaris __5__

3. Write down an open source e-mail client distributed by the Mozilla open source
community which can be compared to Microsoft Outlook. Mention the advantage and
disadvantage of that software.
Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open-source, and cross-platform email, news, RSS,
and chat client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy was
modeled after that of the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
Thunderbird supports LDAP email address auto-complete, so if you previously sent an
email to a recipient, or if the recipient is in your contact list, you can type just the first
few letters of the person’s name, then the LDAP feature will complete the rest of the
address. Outlook is not open source, therefore, the application is not free. You can
configure complex rules to manage your messages and automate workflow, a feature
that is not supported in Thunderbird.
 (1 + 4)
4. What is Apache? The development of Apache started in which year? Write down some
of the advantages of using Apache. Write down the name of some programming
languages which are supported by Apache.
The Apache HTTP Server, colloquially called Apache is free and open-source cross-
platform web server software, released under the terms of Apache License 2.0.
Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the
auspices of the Apache Software Foundation. Apache is similar to other types of open
source options in that it can be customized through the use of modules. These modules
will mesh or work with the main Apache system, allowing you to develop the system
over time or to create it all at once.
Apache supports a variety of features, many implemented as compiled modules
which extend the core functionality. These can range from server-side programming
language support to authentication schemes. Some common language interfaces
support Perl, Python, Tcl and PHP.
5. (i) Which of the followings are open standards?
(a) .orgg open source
(b) .doc not open source
(c) .jpeg open source
(d) .svg open source
(e) .ttf not open source
(ii) Write down the name of an open standard for the followings:
(a) web page .html
(b) office document .odf
(c) vector images .svg
(d) audio compression .ogg
(e) Any image type .jpeg (1 + 5)