You may not know it, but our world has already been basically taken over by free and open source software, or FOSS – specifically, the Linux operating system. Just about every single electronic appliance or device today, from your smartphone to your smart toaster, is running some flavor of the Linux operating system. Furthermore, open source software projects are the bedrock of many for-profit software applications, operating systems, mobile apps and web apps. It’s everywhere, and yet you probably know very little about it. Today, Sean O’Brien will give us a little FOSS history lesson, explain why supporting this movement is so important, and even tell us how we might replace some pricey and user-hostile popular software with top-notch free and open alternatives.

Sean O’Brien is a lecturer in Cybersecurity at Yale Law School and Chief Security Officer at Panquake.com  He is a Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, where he founded and leads the Privacy Lab initiative.  He has been involved in Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) for approximately two decades, including volunteer work for the Free Software Foundation and FreedomBox Foundation.