OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

BY R.KALYANKUMAR

WHAT IS OSS?

The OSS is not an operating system its the latest hi-tech gift for the whole world which enjoys without paying a penny..

Its really surprising about those talents who have found the open source software which gave rise to the IT field..

Various small companies as well as larger companies still survive in IT field due this open source software

WHAT IS OPEN SOURCE?

Open source software software whose source code is published and made available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. Open source code evolves through community cooperation. These communities are composed of individual programmers as well as very large companies.

PRINCIPLE OF OSS

A main principle and practice of open source software development is peer production by bartering and collaboration, with the end-product, source-material, "blueprints" and documentation available at no cost to the public. This is increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavor, such as biotechnology.

EXAMPLES OF OSS

# Apache - HTTP web server

# Tomcat web server - web container

# Drupal content management system

# Eclipse - software framework for "rich-client applications"

# FreeBSD - operating system derived from Unix

# GNU Project - "a sufficient body of free software."

MORE EXAMPLES OF OSS

# Joomla content management system

# Linux - operating system based on Unix

# Mediawiki wiki server software, the software that runs Wikipedia

# MongoDB - document-oriented, non-relational database

# Moodle - course management system

# Mozilla Firefox - web browser

OSS POPULARITY IN SOCIETY

Open source culture is the creative practice of appropriation and free sharing of found and created content.

Examples include collage, found footage film, music, and appropriation art.

Open source culture is one in which fixations, works entitled to copyright protection, are made generally available.

ENTERING INTO DIFF CULTURE

The idea of an "open source" culture runs parallel to "Free Culture," but is substantively different.

Open Source Culture (OSC) maintain that some intellectual property law needs to exist to protect cultural producers.

Older analog technologies such as the telephone or television have limitations on the kind of interaction users can have.

OSS RULING GOVERNMENT

Open politics (sometimes known as Open source politics) is a term used to describe a political process that uses Internet technologies such as blogs, email and polling to provide for a rapid feedback mechanism between political organizations and their supporters. There is also an alternative conception of the term Open source politics which relates to the development of public policy under a set of rules and processes similar to the Open Source Software movement.

OSS IN MEDIA

Open source journalism referred to the standard journalistic techniques of news gathering and fact checking, and reflected a similar term that was in use from 1992 in military intelligence circles, open source intelligence.

It is now commonly used to describe forms of innovative publishing of online journalism, rather than the sourcing of news stories by a professional journalist.

OSS IN MEDIA

Weblogs, or blogs, are another significant platform for open source culture.

Blogs consist of periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts, using a technology that makes webpages easily updatable with no understanding of design, code, or file transfer required.

OSS IN MEDIA

Open-IPTV is IPTV that is not limited to one recording studio, production studio, or cast. Open-IPTV uses the Internet or other means to pool efforts and resources create an online community that all contributes to a show.

OSS IN EDUCATION

Now that you have a little background in Open Source, you may be able to think

of ways it can be used in schools. There are many issues facing educators who want to

use technology and I feel that many of them can be addressed by using Open Source.

Just so it is clear, I am not suggesting that Open Source is a silver bullet or that it is right

to use in every situation.

IN EDUCATION

Just so it is clear, I am not suggesting that Open Source is a silver bullet or that it is right

to use in every situation. I am just pointing out that it should, at least, be a consideration

when making any decisions about technology that can effect schools or the community.

OSS RUINS EDUCATION

It is clear that the Open Source community has a lot to offer educators.

There are thousands of projects that are currently being used in schools and many more that could be.

Below is an overview of just a few of the Open Source projects that educators maybe concerned with.

LINUX

Linux is an obvious Open Source solution for educators.

It is free and can be easily installed on almost any computer. Red Hat Linux is the most popular distribution(version) of Linux in the United States. It offers ease of set-up, use, and maintenance.

Another popular distribution is Yellow Dog Linux. It is based on Red Hat and made torun on Apple computers.

OPENOFFICE.ORG

OpenOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office.

It runs on all major platforms and is free monetarily and liberty wise.

There are almost no excuses for a school to spend money on MS Office when this alternative is available.

There are also other Office solutions as well.

APACHE

Apache is most widely known as an http server, which takes care of hosting websites.

It was created by a few hobbyists who were not happy with the closed-sourcesolutions available.

They started patching (hence the name) a program together to filltheir needs.

Long story short, as of May 2003, Apache serves 63% of all Internet webpages. (Netcraft Web Server Survey, 2003)

DIFF BTWN CLOSED &
OPENSOURCE

CONCLUSION

By now you should be able to see the implications of using Open Source.

It cannot only save money, but it also provide an avenue to the latest in technology.

The community behind Open Source is concerned with creating the best products possible and they do it for fun.

CONCLUSION

This method of development brings out the importance of the program, rather than the money that can be made off of it.

One of the most common arguments against Open Source in education is In the

real world my child is going to need to know Microsoft Word (insert any closed-sourceprogram here) so that is what they should be learning.

THANKU