More Benefits of OSS
There was more in the news last Friday about the benefits of using Open Source Software (OSS).
This BBC article focussed on the increasing impact of OSS specifically in schools, but the same could easily apply to Adult and Community Learning centres. Some of the key benefits cited were:
- “Schools using open source software can develop their information and communication technology (ICT) as they think best, without worrying about software costs and licensing because OSS is usually free.
- The software a school needs to keep its computer network running and secure, send and receive e-mail, access the internet, protect users from viruses, spam and unsuitable content and carry out office tasks such as word processing is all available free by using OSS….
- ...OSS is now sufficiently well developed to meet classroom and office needs and provides a viable alternative to licensed software.”
Another point that’s worth noting here though, particularly for the ‘often strapped for cash’ ACL sector is…
- “Because OSS runs well on old hardware, computers from the old school and cast-offs from local businesses could be deployed in ICT rooms and other classrooms, requiring little additional capital expenditure.“
There really is a lot of discussion going on about OSS at the moment so if you don’t yet know what OSS is here are a couple of places you can learn more:
- Find out why open source makes sense for education
- Read BECTA’s information sheet (pdf) that identifies benefits and issues to be aware of when considering open source software.
- Read edugadget’s evaluation of the OpenCD.
- Discover how a learning centre in West Sussex uses open source software with their learners
- Read top tips from OSS watch for selecting open source software
Hope that’s enough to be getting on with for now. No doubt there will be more about OSS coming up again soon...
posted by Unknown @ 12:07 pm
1 Comments:
Update on ‘More Benefits of OSS’ – for those who are already won over by the idea of OSS and are looking for an OSS software solution I’ve now added this link to an open source software directory to my archive. This comprehensive site has software lists for free calendars, forums, HTML editors, image galleries, e-learning, portals, surveys, blogs and wikis.
(Credit to Bigman of Google Groups for posting this link, cheers.)
Theresa
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