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# System prepended metadata

title: Block 3 assignment

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# Block 3 assignment

<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/923740186&color=%238bc99d&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/mathias-tvilling-70944421" title="Mathias Tvilling" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mathias Tvilling</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mathias-tvilling-70944421/johannes-sizzling-hot-ones-open-software-on-the-table" title="Johannes&#x27; Sizzling Hot Ones: Open Software On The Table!" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Johannes&#x27; Sizzling Hot Ones: Open Software On The Table!</a></div>
**Introduction:**

This project explores the FLOSS software Atom. Atom is Free and open source, and is released under the MIT license. Which is one of the most permissive licenses, which allows both copying, merging and republishing with the only requirement of including the copyright notice in all copies made. We therefore chose to explore Atom further in our podcast, to raise questions about both advantages and disadvantages of FLOSS software with Atom as our case study. The podcast is part of an imagined series of podcasts regarding FLOSS and open source software. Where experts will come into the show, to answer questions from listeners. This episode is centered around Atom, where the imagined founder of Atom, mr. Atom is guesting the show as the weekly expert. Furthermore two listeners call in to express their opinions toward Atom. The first being “Ester” from Denmark, who is a developer at a small company who uses the Atom text editor as part of their working practice. Ester is very enthusiastic about the commoning practice of the software, and the way in which one can use other peoples extensions, and contribute with her own. Furthermore, she is interested in why Atom is Free, and not commercialised. To answer this question mr. Atom emphasizes the commoning practice of open source, and how this practice is the philosophy the Atom community is built upon. The next listener “Mike” questions the fact that Atom is not commercial, or has some commercial gains from being connected to Github, which is further owned by Microsoft. This leads to a discussion of the “free” aspect of FLOSS and in particular Atom between Mike and mr. Atom. The two viewpoints were chosen, in order to elucidate the complexity of FLOSS, and how free can have many different meanings. Lastly the host of the podcast, concludes on these questions that there are many aspects of FLOSS, it is not only Free and Open Source, and emphasizes the importance of raising the discussion of these different aspects.  


**To which degree is atom FLOSS?**

First of all, we will try to create a definition of FLOSS. FLOSS can be understood as more of an umbrella term. A movement in which many different ways of addressing free/libre and open source software co-exist. This can be seen in the many different types of licenses with different structures which all coincide within this term. These licenses express the idea of free and open source software: ‘’Free software can be freely copied, modified, modified and copied, sold, taken apart and put back together.’’ (Mansoux, 2017, p. 92). Even though this might seem as a pretty sharp definition, the licenses differ from each other. They have different purposes, addressing different elements and degrees of freedom, political structures and overall ideologies. The common goal they seek through this is creating environments where one can share and develop software freely, making it accessible. Creating cultural liberty and equality (Mansoux, 2017, p. 82)

Atom is a free and open source text editor used for coding first launched in 2014. The platform is developed by Github, and is licensed as FLOSS under the MIT License, widely considered as one of the most open free and open software licenses available ( Wheeler 2015). This license allows users to modify, distribute and use both privately and professionally with no cost. Atom is renowned for its flexibility in use as a result of a big community of contributors, who create packages and extensions for Atom which allows it to be compatible with a variety of different tasks. Atom's status as FLOSS software combined with the huge community maintaining, developing and using it arguably allows us to view Atom as a digital common in Sollfranks definition (Sollfrank, 2017). 
The interesting question, which is also raised in the podcast by caller “Mike”, is Atom’s affiliation with Github and by extension Microsoft. In 2018, Github, who made/owns Atom, was bought by Microsoft, and thus Atom is now part of a Microsoft owned company. Microsoft as a company cannot be said to be a part of FLOSS - certainly not to the extent that Github and Atom was/is, so what does this mean for our view of Atom as a free and open source piece of software? This is an interesting question, as Atom by all accounts is still run as a FLOSS company - however, as argued by the character “Mike” on the podcast, in some ways Atom could be seen as an asset for Github. The community of developers maintaining and improving Atom could be seen to add value not only to themselves and the platform, but also to Github, by making their assets more valuable. 

**Conclusion**

To conclude on the different aspects of FLOSS, with Atom as our case study, one can argue the development and maintenance of Atom is a commoning practice. Where the software itself, and the different packages that can be added is the resources that the community work with, in the commoning practice of programming, sharing and learning from each other. On the other hand, the free aspect of Atom can be challenged by the fact that Atom has such close connections to Github, and further down the line Microsoft, which suggest that Atom, or FLOSS in general have hidden aspects that might not be as visible to the specific communities, in this case such as the commercial gains or the added status Github/Microsoft can obtain from the the Atom community. 

**Bibliography:**

Mansoux, Aymeric. (2017).“In Search of Pluralism” in Sandbox Culture: A Study of the Application of Free and Open Source Software Licensing Ideas to Art and Cultural Production, pp. 76-112


 Wheeler, David A. (2015). “Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers!”( https://dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html)


Solfrank, Cornelia (2017). “Art & Speculative Commons”. (https://vimeo.com/216611321)

