Open source software

==Background==
* This wiki, Platform.For-Pgh.org runs on open source software.
* Campaign CDs used by Mark Rauterkus includes open source software such as OpenOffice.org.
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* Planks about open source software from Mark Rauterkus
==Insights==
===Open Source Trend===
A bold statement about open source software is the way to go. No doubt. The city impacts this movement in multiple ways. Reforms to increase software innovation and decrease prices can come in different forms.
====Open source software====
*Many public institutions, such as schools, effectively provide free and exclusive advertising for Microsoft, even as our government sues Microsoft for monopolistic practices. Teachers need to be aware of other software available to their students and need to make students aware of these free alternatives, rather than telling students that they need to use Microsoft products.
*Public institutions, such as universities, pay fees to Microsoft to provide their students with software, even when free alternatives exist. Such institutions should seek to use free software when possible as a cost saving alternative, and should provide equal or greater exposure to comparable free software.
*Government and public institutions may have the bargaining power to pressure manufacturers to provide alternatives to MS software pre-installed on computers. This course should be pursued when free software is of equal or greater quality than MS software (such as is the case with the Mozilla web-browser).
==Links==
* Open Document Format was adopted by the British government as a basis for software purchases. Britain requires government agencies to use as much software based on standards as possible, based on its 10-point program
to encourage open standards and open source. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/02/britain_endorse.html
* UK government launched a strategy for use of open source and open standards in 2009. http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformational_government/open_source/index.asp
* http://en.opensuse.org/Education
* K-12 Open Source Site
: * Feeds
* Alec's blog
* Rob Wall and many links.
* Peter Rock's blog looks at open source/free software with a societal/political view. Peter's from Alberta, but is teaching in Africa.
* Free, Libre and Open Source Software in Education
===Products===
* Live Kiosk turns old PCs into Linux web station.
===Higher Education===
* The Open Source Parade EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2004, Volume 39, Number 5 Great article
** http://www.uportal.org
** http://www.sakaiproject.org
** http://www.theospi.org
===Blogs===
* http://srirambala.com/?p=190 from March 2007
==Insights==
The processes and best practices of developing Open Source software can
seem obvious to seasoned veterans while simultaneously being cryptic and
confusing to newcomers. 
The best way to learn and understand open source is to spend considerable time working on a project. The time investment is long. While this works well for some projects, it presents difficulties for others.
Open source software, at the early stages, must acquire users and acquire developers. Without the two elements, the open source project is doomed. 
To meet these goals, survey the landscape and ensure that the project is useful and not a duplicate effort. 
Money, social infrastructure, communication, and licenses all matter.
Open Source development is not something that can be done in a cave. Rather, at all times you must be aware of how you are communicating. 
Take the time to accurately document decisions and discussions in a public way.
Open source has a grandiose philosophical vision, but it also has real outcomes that are more 'blue collar.'
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===ODF Alliance===
Alliance Formed to Promote Improved Access to and Retrieval of Electronic Government Documents
ODF Alliance includes diverse industry partners, associations, NGOs and academic/research institutions.
The ODF Alliance was formed by a diverse coalition of more than
35 organizations from a wide range of countries around the world.
The Alliance membership includes: Adullact Association; American Library
Association; Ark Linux; The Association of Open Source Suppliers and
Vendors in Denmark; Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (India);
Cognitran Ltd; Corel Corporation; CSW Group Ltd; EDS; EMC Corporation;
Friends of OpenDocument, Inc.; GENICORP; Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT); Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the City of Vienna;
IBM; Information Program, Open Society Institute; International Open Source
Network; Justsystem Corporation; Massachusetts High Tech Council; Massachusetts
Network Communications Council; Novell; Open Society Archives of the Central
European University (OSA Archivum); OpenForum Europe; OpenDocument Fellowship;
The OpenDocument Foundation, Inc.; OpenOffice.org; Opera Software;
Optaros, Inc.; Oracle Corporation; OSS Alliance; Propylon Ltd; Red Hat,
Inc.; Software & Information Industry Association; Sun Microsystems; the
Technical University of Denmark and tarent GmbH.
http://web.archive.org/20060512071148/ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/03/odf-alliance-formed.html
===OASIS ODF Adoption Committee Formed===
"The newly formed OASIS ODF Adoption Committee, which includes IBM,
Novell, Oracle and Sun Microsystems, believes that raising awareness of
the open file format will increase the demand for and availability of
ODF-conforming products.
"The life of a document may far exceed that of a particular software
product or vendor," said IBM's Don Harbison, convener and proposed
chairman of the ODF Adoption Committee. "Users have a right to retain
control over their work, no matter when their documents were created or
what tool was used to create them. Open standards in general, and ODF in
particular, can help ensure that right. Our team will work to help users
understand what's really at stake here and the advantages ODF offers for
platform- and application-independent documents."
ODF was approved as an OASIS standard in May 2005 and was submitted by
OASIS to the International Organization for Standardization /
International Electrotechnical Commission (IOS/IEC) Joint Technical
Committee for further approval as a de jure standard. ODF is maintained
and advanced by the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee, which was
formed in November 2002."
http://au.sys-con.com/read/194878.htm
==Links==
* Open source software in schools
category:technology