Presentation20060926
From OSIG
2006-09-26 - Open Source on any OS
Agenda
18:00 - 18:29
- Snacks
- Mingling
18:30 - 18:59
- Call to order
- Sign-in sheet
- Introductions
- Announcements
- Snack fund
- Planning meetings
- Wiki
- Next semester plans
19:00 - ??:??
- Presentation and discussion
- More snacks
- Go home!
Part 1 - Stop Worrying and Love the Source
Popular applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Gimp, Gaim, and Audacity can be found on many different desktops.
While most Linux distributions come with (most of) these programs pre-installed, Windows and Mac users must download and install the programs themselves (sort of the opposite of chosing an open source operating system). Here are some sources for finding open source software for your system:
The Open CD - http://theopencd.org
TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience.
The Open CD is for windows. So far there is no equally handy collection available for Mac; however, the following blog post lists several applications:
http://www.douglasjohnston.net/weblog/archives/2005/01/02/osx-cdrom
Sites dedicated to hosting software projects:
(Note - not all projects found on these sites are open source. Each project may have a different license and terms of use.)
Part 2 - Hop on the Bandwagon
Open source isn't just for hobbyists anymore! The following companies have put signficant resources towards open source software:
- IBM
- Novell
- Intel
- Red Hat
Many more companies make use of OSS:
- UPS
- Disney
- Continental Airlines
- Nielson Media Research
Part 3 - Beyond Software
The practices and ideals of open source are not limited to software.
Some examples of open source hardware/firmware projects:
- [[1] (http://www.openbios.info)OpenBios]
- [[2] (http://openhardware.net)OpenHardware]
- [[3] (http://opencollector.org/Whyfree)Writings on Open Source Hardware]
- [[4] (http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/26/42)Linksys WRT54G hacking]
(Note - Hacking is a good thing.)
Open source is not even limited to computers and technology. Some examples include [[5] (http://openmusic.linuxtag.org/modules/freecontent/content/openmusic)open music] (<a\\
[[6] (http://magnatune.com/info/openmusic)another link]) and the [[7] (http://www.open.ac.uk)Open University].
Finally - open source knowledge! http://www.wikipedia.comis an example of this. While Wikipedia may not have the same prestige as a "real" encyclopedia or knowledge base, it is still a great resource for information exchange.
In that spirit, this presentation will (hopefully soon) be entered into the OSIG wiki so that members can add their own knowledge.
References
(All links posted can be considered as references)
The Open CD http://theopencd.org
The ultimate OS X Open Source CD-ROM (blog post) http://www.douglasjohnston.net/weblog/archives/2005/01/02/osx-cdrom
Open Source Software: Who Gives and Who takes?
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187202790
