For some it’s obvious that public agencies should be using open source software solutions. We owe it to the tax payers to be good stewards of their money. When we can, we should use free software. But what about being more than just users and actually contributing to OSS projects?
I came across a great post that lays out the rationale for participating as contributors in open source projects. It’s from Stephen Hedges, the director of the Nelsonville Public Library answering questions about their decision to use Koha, an open source circulation software package.
From the article,
“It’s important that libraries do not look on Open Source as free software that they just download, press a button, and all their problems will magically be solved. Open Source requires just as much commitment as commercial software – you still only get what you pay for. Libraries should approach Open Source with the notion that they will commit a lot of staff time to understanding the code and how the software does its job. They should also be ready to commit financial resources as well, just as if they were still paying annual license fees for commercial software. The difference is, with commercial software a big portion of the license fee goes to research and development over which the library has no control, while with Open Source that same money can fund the development of the software modules that the library really wants.”
also…
“I expect that an initial investment of about $10,000 will save us about $10,000 every year, beginning in 2003.”
Read the rest of the article…
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Just 15 years ago Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer student, posted this message to an Internet discussion group,
“I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready…” (Linus Torvalds, August 25, 1991)
Fast forward to 2006. Torvalds is now working in Portland, OR for the Open Source Development Labs promoting Linux as an enterprise operating system used all over the world. His children, who attend a public school in Portland, will be using a computer lab this fall where the Windows machines are gone, having been replaced with thin-clients running Linux. All of Portland’s middle schools and many of its elementary and high schools have Linux workstations. Portland schools are not alone in their use of Linux. It’s happening all over the world.
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7:58 minutes (5.47 MB)
Michelle Moore from Remote-Learner.net is a Moodle master. She shares some Moodle info with us and gives a few hints of exciting features coming soon to a Moodle near you.
Michelle is a great presenter. You can reach her at Michelle@remote-learner.net
See also: Moodle.org and Moodle.com
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I thought this was a great article. It shows how easy it is to rescue a school with older computers and how after one school sees K12LTSP in action, others follow.
From the article, “Bottom line is the school went from maybe one working PC per classroom to now five or six, with some classrooms having eight or nine. The teachers started integrating them into a lot of the curriculum. If you have only one or two it’s more of a novelty. With five, now you can take one-third of the class and create a center of activity. That was the tipping point.”
And, “The Atlanta School District is so impressed with the technology overhaul at Brandon that it is beginning a pilot program using K12LTSP on brand new thin clients in six area middle and elementary schools.”
K12LTSP motto: It works. It’s free. Duh… 
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8:41 minutes (5.96 MB)
SchoolTool author Tom Hoffman tells us about the SchoolTool Project.
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3:00 minutes (2.06 MB)
Adam Frey talks about wikispaces.com, a free wiki hosting site for K12 schools.
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51:52 minutes (23.75 MB)
Will Richardson gave us a good introduction on using blogs in the classroom.
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Steve Hargadon, from TechnologyRescue.com
did a great job lining up speakers and volunteers for this year’s NECC. The day started off with David Thornburg [When the Best is Free] running a game show for educators to quiz them on how much they knew about free, open source software packages they could use in their classrooms. The Open Source Pavilion is located at NECC central where there is a lot of foot traffic. We are right next to ISTE and another big draw, the $100 laptop project.
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The first news from NECC 2006 in San Diego is that educators are packing the Open Source Pavilion. It’s standing room only and that’s with a huge display area complete with lots of computers running K12LTSP.
People are lining up right now for the Moodle demonstration and the lecture area is full. David Thornburg wowed the crowd this morning introducing free software to teachers who were mostly unaware of the FOSS movement.
Look for more reports and podcasts
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We’ll be podcasting interviews and presentations from the Open Source Pavilion at NECC 2006. You can subscribe to these podcasts and download them to your music player by using this link:
http://k12os.org/?q=taxonomy/term/8/0/feed
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