The modern world is a highly computerized environment in which everything, or almost everything, can be found with the help of the Internet. Further on, the latter worldwide network allows computer users to enjoy the advantages of the Free Software accessible online. However, history shows that the situation could have developed in a completely different way, if the inventors of the ARPANET, and further the Internet, cooperated not with the publically but privately funded organizations. Many scholars Dravis (2003), Yamamoto (2008, p. 516), etc. believe that the growth of the Open Standards and the Internet as such would be endangered if private interests were involved.
The story itself began already in 1957 when the USSR sent its first artificial satellite Sputnik. This event impacted the wish of U.S. researchers to achieve a goal of equal or even greater importance. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was founded in pursuit of this goal in 1962 (Hauben, 2010). The 1960s were the time when computers, after being considered as mere calculating machines, became means of connecting people that used them. The work of the Advanced Research Projects Agency soon resulted in the creation of the so-called ARPANET, the predecessor of the modern Internet and the first computer network invented by humanity (Dravis, 2003; Hauben, 2010).
Further on, the Internet developed from ARPANET, and scholars like Clark and Lick, as cited by Hauben (2010), call this invention not a technological, but rather a human achievement. At the same time, the challenge of the Internet growth is viewed by the same scholars as already a purely technological issue imposed on the human beings working on the Inet development. The main advantages of the Internet are the open standards of using the TCP/IP Protocols and the Free Software available to any computer user without the need to pay royalties (Song, 2008; wheeler, 2007). Drawing from this, scholars like Hauben (2010) and Wheeler (2007) argue that the creation of the Internet in collaboration with a private company like AT&T would have adverse effects on the Internet growth and the development of its open standards.
Nowadays, the use of TCP/IP Protocols is free, and so is the of the licensed software that can be distributed through the Internet. This is possible due to the fact that the Internet was developed using the public funds, and if private company finance were involved, the situation would be different. First of all, the use of TCP/IP Protocols would be paid as the company owning rights for licensing would definitely make a profit of its sale. Second, the distribution of Free Software would hardly be possible as the company owning the rights for the Internet protocols would censor the content of the latter. Finally, all software users would have to pay royalties to software developers and the companies that have bought the rights for licensing the TCP/IP Protocols through which that software would be distributed.
So, Open Standards practiced in the modern Internet are vital for the growth of the web and for the development of the Free Software principle in it. One cannot ignore the fact that in case if private funding was the basis for Internet development, Open Standards would hardly be possible, as private Internet investors would aim at making a profit and returning the money they invested.
References
Dravis, Paul. Open Source Software. Infodev, 2003. Web.
Hauben, Michael. History of ARPANET. Behind the Net, 2010. Web.
Song, Steve. Open Standards – It’s Not Just Good for the Internet. Many Possibilities, 2008. Web.
Wheeler, David. Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers! FLOSS, 2007. Web.
Yamamoto, Toki. “Estimation of the advanced TCP/IP algorithms for long distance collaboration.” Fusion Engineering and Design 83:2 (2008): 516 – 519. Print.