Open source software

Open source software

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  Matthew Schultz
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   It isan explicit "feature" of open source that it may put no restrictions on the use or distribution by any organization or user. It forbids this, in principle, to guarantee continued access to derived works even by the major original contributors.  Open source describes a broad general type of software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non- existent copyright restrictions. The principles, as stated, say absolutely nothing about trademark or patent use and require absolutely no cooperation to ensure that any common audit or release regime applies to any derived works. Definition of ‘Open Source’
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   Software developersmay want to publish their software with an open- source license, so that anybody may also develop the same software or understand its internal functioning. With open-source software, generally anyone is allowed to create modifications of it, port it to new operating systems and processor architectures, share it with others or, in some cases, market it.  The term free software should be replaced by open-source software (OSS) as an expression which is less ambiguous and more comfortable for the corporate world. Origin of term ‘Open Source’
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   Security  Affordability Transparency  Perpetuity  Interoperability  Localization—particularly in the context of local governments  Several policy-based reasons for adoption of open source – in particular, the heightened value proposition from open source (when compared to most proprietary formats) in the following categories: Reasons for adoption
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   Unfortunately, notevery student in Victoria has access to a high end computer running the latest in all software at home. As more and more schools include computer skills in their education and request parents to provide computers in the home environment more and more students from lower income families are being disadvantaged. High school students who only have access to computers during school time are less advantaged than their peers who are able to spend their evenings writing up essays and CATs.  Many open source packages can run quite ably on older machines. Schools rarely have the money to buy the latest hardware but frequently software upgrades require hardware upgrades in order to perform reasonably. Many businesses regularly replace older machines with new in order to keep up with their software's hardware requirements. These machines are usually in good working order but in the Microsoft world they're essentially useless. Advantages for schools
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   You havepermission to make copies of your changed software and install them wherever you need them. In fact, so long as you comply to some fairly simple requirements, you even have permission to spread your new copies of the software far and wide.  Open source software is much more customisable than propriety software because ultimately, if you don't like it, you can change it. In some cases changing the software may not be practical, but in many cases whole systems can be put together in ways that match the specific requirements of your school just by gluing together existing open source packages.  Software is usually sold on an as-is basis. If it doesn't quite do everything you need it to, then either you bought the wrong software or you have to change what you need. Software is not often sold on the understanding that if you find an error or you need it to do something else or to do something in a different way that you can change it, or pay someone else to change it for you. Typically if you're unhappy with your software for whatever reason there's nothing you can do to make it better.  Open source software changes all of this. "Open source" means you have access to the source code of the software. You have permission to change the software and correct the things that are bothering you, or add new features, or take features away. And if you don't have the skills to change these things, you have permission to get other people to fix them for you. Advantages for schools
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   Businesses areunwilling to change to alternative products because they'll have to face retraining costs. What this means to schools is that there's a greater emphasis on teaching how to use certain products to students rather than teaching them the basic concepts behind the use of those products.  Instead of teaching students the basics of good layout for essays, teachers often end up teaching students how to layout their essays using a particular product. Instead of teaching students basic computer presentation skills teachers often end up teaching students how to use a particular product for presentation. These lessons are useful but they did not achieve their original purpose. Exclusive use of an open source software product won't solve this problem either. However, access to a wide variety of open source software products allows teachers greater choice of packages to best illustrate their lessons and students greater exposure to how other packages may perform tasks.  Exposing students to Linux will have a long term impact on it's growth in other areas. The primary reason many companies have spent millions of dollars on Microsoft software is that people know it. In 5 years today's 9th grade students will be in the workforce. If they're already comfortable with open source software, it will make it that much easier for open source software to move father into other sectors.  Unfortunately at the moment we're in a situation where propriety software has become the default standard everywhere. People are unwilling to learn how to use alternative products because it's not what they'll need to know in business. Advantages for schools
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   the ApacheHTTP Server  the e-commerce platform osCommerce  the internet browser Mozilla Firefox.  One of the most successful open-source products is the GNU/Linux operating system, an open-source Unix-like operating system, and its derivative Android, an operating system for mobile devices  In some fields, open software is the norm, like in voice over IP applications with Asterisk (PBX).  Open source software projects are built and maintained by a network of volunteer programmers. Prime examples of open-source products are: Examples of ‘Open Source’