Some General Ideas Related to GNU/Linux and

Free Software

September 26, 2011

1 Introduction
This lesson will get you started with the course! The objective of the lesson is
to become familiar with some of the important non-technical issues associated
with GNU/Linux and Free Software.
There is no lecture note / screencast associated with this lesson. Simply try
to answer each of the six questions. It will be easy for you to nd the solution
by doing a google search. But please do not stop at that. Try to spend some
time exploring the ideas associated with each of the questions - they are *very*
important. It will be great if you can initiate a discussion over the project forum
regarding some of these topics!
You can use the documents available on the following web site as a reference:

http://www.gnu.org

2 Exercises
1. The Linux Operating System Kernel is licensed under:

(a) GPLv3

(b) GPLv2

(c) MPL

2. What is the Free Software community's opinion about Software Patents?

(a) Software Patents are a bad idea - they should be opposed

(b) Software patents are essential for the progress of technology

3. The Free Software denition refers to 4 fundamental freedoms; freedom

3 is:

(a) The freedom to run the program, for any purpose

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 (b) The freedom to redistribute copies

(c) The freedom to improve the program, and release the improvements
to the public

(d) The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your
needs

4. The term tivoization refers to:

(a) A method of bypassing the GPL using hardware restrictions

(b) An encryption technique

(c) A random number generation technique

5. What is Creative Commons?

(a) Refers to a group of artists

(b) Refers to a collection of licenses used for distributing works of art

6. The GNU project was initiated by:

(a) Linus Torvalds

(b) Eric S Raymond

(c) Richard Stallman