\section{Free/Open Source Software and Brazilian Public Software}
\label{sec:spb}

FOSS is a phenomenon that has gained notoriety in recent years and has been
attarcting the interest of academia. However, since the beginning of computing
the majority of developers worked in the way that we now identify as free
software, that is, sharing code openly. This feature makes the code available
for inspection, modification, and use by any person or organization
\cite{kon2012}, \cite{hippel2003}.

The elements that distinguish FOSS from other types of software are the
reasoning about the development process, the economic context, the relationship
between developers and users, as well as the ethical and legal characteristics
that relate to the software. In the context of FOSS, user freedom is promoted
and its development is based on open collaboration and development practices.
%TODO: Colocar referências sem ser nós mesmo e sem ser em PT-Br

From the economic point of view, unlike what happens with proprietary software,
FOSS promotes the establishment of several suppliers that compete with each
other based on the same software. This stronger competition among suppliers
brings benefits to users because it gives better assurances regarding the
evolution of the system and induces a reduction in prices. These freedoms and
assurances on software are guaranteed in Brazil by Law 9610/98 (copyright law).
Most of the time, this protection from the law complies with the terms
conferred by a contract related to certain software. This contract is called
``license''. A software license determines a list of rights that are
given to, and duties that are imposed on a user of the software. In particular,
what differentiates FOSS from proprietary software is just the way they are
licensed\cite{sabino2009}. The FOSS licenses guarantee the right to execute,
study, adapt, and improve the software. Example of common FOSS licenses  are
the \textit{GPL (GNU General Public License)}, the Apache license, the MIT
license, and the BSD license.

The SPB portal has been designed in 2005 and released in 2007. In a practical
view, it is a web system that has consolidated itself as a software project
sharing environment. It provides a space (community) for each software.
Therefore, the current platform for SPB was designed to include tools that
promote collaboration and interaction in communities (by managers, users, and
developers) of the projects, according to the practices used in FOSS
communities. This includes e-mail lists, discussion forums, issue trackers,
version control systems, and social networking environments.

Initially, the purpose of the portal was only to share the software developed
in the Brazilian government, to reduce the costs of hiring software.  However
it was observed that when softwares were released, their communities were
formed around those software with several people collaborating and sharing the
results obtained through the use of those solutions. In this way, some software
development cooperatives and private companies have shown an interest in making
their software available on the SPB platform.

The concept of Brazilian Public Software goes beyond FOSS. In addition to being
licensed under a FOSS license, a Brazilian Public Software needs to have
explicit guarantees that it is a public good, and that project must be
available in the SPB. Being a true public good assumes requirements that can
not be met solely by means of FOSS licensing. For example, there must be a
relaxed trademark usage policy by the original vendor that do not stop eventual
competitors from adversiting services for that same software. Inclusion in the
SPB also has extra requirements, such as having a public version control
system, installation manual, hardware requirements specification, etc.

