Information technology initiatives actually are in form of acquiring wisdom. Institutions should not only have the data and information concerning internal and external environment, but also be able to process data and information into knowledge and wisdom so that every management decision and execution of action provide optimal results for all.
Thus was delivered by Prof. Dr. Jazi Eko Istiyanto, M.Sc in the Senate Hall of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Wednesday (1/2), when he was inaugurated as Professor of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In his speech entitled Philosophy of Open-Source: Software and Hardware", Jazi said Open-Source is a method of software development done jointly by many people around the world. With the software they are entitled to download, develop, and modify the source code for the common good.
This method, said Jazi, was developed into a movement that produces large applications, such as Apache Web Server, Linux Operating System with all its variants (Debian, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Ubuntu, etc.), Firefox web browser, care2x for hospital information systems and others. "Open-source development has several important characteristics compared to closed-source software development methods," he said.
Those important characteristics include the source code that can be downloaded, modified, and developed by the user. Users who were previously positioned only on the consumer side are now also positioned as the developer. In addition, the programmer is composed of a core programmer (core developers), additional programmer (periphery developers), and bug reporters who are recruited voluntarily. The development is done collaboratively using Internet connection media. "And it uses the formal methodologies minimally. Focus of development in open code uses two things, namely to add features and make improvements to the reported bug," said Chairman of the Department of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.
Jazi added that Open Source Hardware (OSH) is slightly different from Open-Source Software (OSS). The design of hardware (especially the chips), is not completely free for public access, because research funding is necessary for chip design and materials of the hardware. However on the hardware user side, design implementation of chip, both schematic design and source code of chip controller program, such as the Arduino microcontroller, program can be freely accessible to the public. "OSH is a pure open-type model, so it can produce products without involving elements of Intellectual Property (IP), and the majority of hardware business is collaboration between the development strategy and the combination of hardware open-source and closed-source," he concluded.