Open+Source+Home



**The Best Free Software** http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2338803,00.asp

OER - Open Resources for education! http://wiki.creativecommons.org/OER_Resources

= Exploring Free and Open Source Software for the K-12 Classroom =

= **Presenter** = = **Jeff Ingraham, Educational Service Unit 3, jingraham@esu3.org ** =

If your school is like most educational institutions, you are probably faced with financial constraints when it comes to integrating technology into curriculum. Competing demands for resources and the high costs of commercial software can be major obstacles. Fortunately, there are TONS of sources of FREE software available thanks to the open-source software development community. Participants in this workshop will learn how FREE versions of open source programs such as Open Office, Audacity, GIMP, Firefox, NVU and LOTS more can help you bring 21st century technology into your classroom today.

What is Open Source? According to The Open Source Initiative which is a California public benefit corporation with tax-exempt status, founded in 1998, Open source must conform to the following 10 rules 1. Free Redistribution The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

2. Source Code The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

3. Derived Works The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.

5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.

7. Distribution of License The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.

9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.

10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral

Why open source?

Bill Gates The Founder of Microsoft said of the nations high schools: They are "broken, flawed and underfunded, and said the system itself is obsolete" he went on to say: "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow," (Gates, February 25, 2005) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002191433_gates27m.html

Open source is much more widely used abroad then it is here in America, largely because of the financial resources of many people outside of America.

Free for schools, free for students, free for parents! Able to be run on low cost equipment. Allows for students to use the exact same software at home as they use at school regardless of platform and all with no cost! Large school districts can see savings in the millions of dollars over traditional software licenses from commercial software vendors. The state of Indiana has adopted Linux and deployed over 22,000 linux computers for students use http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XGMX1TDYLQPLOQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=192201448&_requestid=128401

They state they can provide a complete desktop system for not more than $250 as compared for prices up to $1000 per station for a Macintosh or MS Windows system. According to Mike Huffman of the Indiana Department of Education ""We have a million kids in the state of Indiana, If we were to pay $100 for software on each machine, each year, that's $100 million for software. That's well beyond our ability. That's why open source is so attractive. We can cut those costs down to $5 [on each computer] per year."

According to the America's Digital Schools Report of 2007 http://ads2007.net/ads2007/index.php The analysts Anticipate an Eight-fold Increase in K-12 Open Source software usage by 2011

Brazil! http://piacentini.livejournal.com/7871.html 52 million users by 2009

Is all open source software perfect? No! There are most certainly issues with software that does not work well. You need to update titles manually. Support, you can not call up 1-800-Microsoft at the first sign of trouble, you need to report your issues to the developers problme and wait for someone to fix the problem!

Top 100 Tools for Education! http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html