‘Libre’ software: turning fads into institutions?

Turning Software into a Service

I n 1999, the Pennine Group—a consortium of software engineering researchers from the University of Durham, Keele University, and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology—asserted that continued development of new architectural styles based on constructional forms such as objects or components would not advance the software field. Rather, they foresaw a future in which d...

Embedded Device Generation: Turning Software into Hardware

The authors retain copyright over this work. This work was presented at the CrossFAB workshop at CHI 2016. Abstract This paper introduces embedded device generation, a design and synthesis process that allows anyone who can write code to develop embedded hardware. The key insight is that a simple program can serve as a complete design specification for the embedded device that runs it. We envis...

Libre Software in Spanish Public Administrations

Libre software started to be used in Public Administrations in Spain during the 1990s, in some isolated but interesting experiences. During the early 2000s, and specially in some regional governments, libre software started to be considered as an integral part of IT-related policies. In 2007, it was evident that many experiences related to libre software were running in Public Administrations w...

Contributor Turnover in Libre Software Projects

Libre∗ software role in edutainment robotics market

Some of the most successful products in the market of robots for edutainment have made manufacturers realize that software for controlling the robots is one of the key elements of the success. Some of them have also conclude that libre software is the best way to produce, maintain, and distribute their software. This paper will summarize the fundamentals of the libre software model, and their b...