In order to promote the open source and free software philosophy, students from the Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor and the University of Luxembourg in conjunction with the Linux User Group Luxembourg and a number of corporate sponsors organised the 3rd Linux Days. This year's event included tutorials, presentations, exhibitions, and apparently, the first open and free source beer.

One of the event's speakers, Brent Frere, is the technical Director for Plan-Net, a Luxembourg privately owned company since 1999 and the oldest company in Luxembourg that supports free and open source solutions and business models.

Can you explain free and open source software to the uninitiated?

"Many solutions are available from the free software/open source community. Free software solutions are often already used and tested, so we build upon something proven, supported and documented, that we are allowed to adapt and that will last longer because it is based on standard languages, protocols and APIs. Open and free doesn't mean 'gratis'. If a client has an open and free source solution developed especially for his needs, he has to pay for the development effort.

Free software is licensed under the GPL license. A software is open source or free depending on the terms of its licence. The proprietary way to develop software is less efficient and is harmful for the software user. You pay for the software development, but as you don't have access to the source code, you cannot correct, adapt or build on your software. The free and open source way is to get a community together to develop a common solution. Cost savings can be passed along in terms of development and adaptation. You get a tool that exactly fits your needs instead of `one-size fits all´ software.

So does free mean there are no rules with open source software?

"There are rules and regulations to free licences. Free/open source software development and vending respects legal principles of IP, anti-dumping laws and copyrights. You are not allowed to steal the common wealth by putting any part of the free or open source code inside a proprietary solution. If you benefit from a free or open source code for your project, you must only respect the licence terms that cover the community. The extensions of a solution stay free.

What is the main goal of Linux Days?

"The goal is to have a platform in Europe for learning computer skills. It is important for universities and research centres to keep access to all levels of the information technology stack, including the source code, and it is dangerous for Europe not to have such capability at a strategic level. Imagine for example that you are trying to teach students engineering on cars, but you can only teach them how to drive and they are not allowed to look inside the engine.

Can you offer an example of the disadvantages of proprietary software?

"A tennis club in Luxembourg needed software and a hardware solution for the automatic opening and closing of their court doors, turning on and off their lights, etc. They paid for a proprietary solution in 1991, but the company they purchased the solution from failed. The tennis club then changed their opening hours, but the system they paid for was no longer tuneable because they haven't received the source code. Everybody loses in such a case.

The danger is a legal issue that has existed since the beginning of computers. In the early 70s, AT&T licensed its Unix to American universities in source-code format, but students had to sign a non-

disclosure agreement not to use any of those codes or methods. So when they graduated they could not work anywhere but for AT&T. It is dangerous to allow too few hands to control information and telecommunications.

What are the advantages of an open source solution?

"Using the tennis club example, we could build them a tailor-made solution that they would then own and could develop further to suit their needs. Taking existing free/open source solutions as a starting point, we can dramatically reduce the adaptation costs. If multiple tennis clubs get together, the price of the development is divided, leading to a less expensive solution, and the user is not locked in to anyone, including Plan-Net, for its future developments.

We are not interested in selling expensive hardware or software.  We refuse to have any agreements with any hardware or software vendors. Since we integrate free and open source software, the imagination of the customer is the only limit."