Open Source in Education

Linux refers to Linus Torvald’s operating system kernal that is free and available for all to use. Free means more than as free in “free popcorn”. It also means that the source code in which the software is written is available and freely accessible. FLOSS (free/libre and open source software) and FOSS refer to all the software programs that have been written for free consumption. This includes Linux distros (distributions) that serve as the internal operating system of a computer and software that one might use to wordprocess, view video, chat, web browsers, etc.  With FLOSS/FOSS software, you can copy it, change it, adapt it to your needs, and even sell it. The source code is available to you to use or change it as you wish. You can learn more by going to Wikipedia’s descriptions of Linux , FLOSS, FOSS, and the GNU GPL.

We hope that this blog and linked wikis can assist educational decision-makers as consider open source solutions.  Free does not mean cheap.  Free does mean that you own your software and can do with it what you please just like most things that you buy.  Proprietary software does not allow the same privileges.  Those vendors only allow you to use it and even limit the number of  computers on which you can load THEIR software (that you paid for!!).

Set for March 26, the first annual Document Freedom Day is an event that hopes to raise awareness for increased accessibility to public documents. Currently electronic documents are saved in a great variety of formats (ie. .doc, .xls, .rtf, .ppt). If a computer user wishes to open a saved file in a particular format, it is necessary to possess or go purchase specific computer software. Propriety software companies reap in millions of dollars with each software upgrade that people run to the stores to purchase in order to read electronic documents.

Participants in Document Freedom Day will share information about the importance of a standard open document format so ALL people can read the documents that they access.

Hopefully this introduction to Open Document Format (click to download) provided by the Open Document Format Alliance along with Wikipedia’s description of ODF will help answer your questions about ODF and the efforts of the Alliance to educate the world. By continuing my research, I found the following .pdf (open format) slideshow created by the Open Document Format Alliance.

Open Document Format Slideshow

Stay tuned for more information.

Gaining energy from Professor Tim Hart’s University of Maine course titled “Open Source in Education”, students in the graduate level class have decided to use this blog and linked wiki pages to provide information about Open Source software and its implementation into the teaching/learning process.

Please stay tuned for more information.