Open Source Briefer

What is Open Source ? Open Source is a category of software with the following features : ● ● ● ●

Available free (no license fee) with the source code Free to share Free to modify Free to redistribute

Open Source refers to non-proprietary products/ software. Note : Most of the Open Source softwares are freely available over the internet but there are commercial open source products also like Red Hat Linux, etc. What are some common Open Source alternatives to commercial/ proprietary products ? Category

Proprietary product

Open Source alternative

Operating System

Windows

Linux

Applications

Ms-Office

Open Office

Net Browser

Internet Explorer

Firefox

How can education benefit by Open Source ? As SCHOOL , Open Source provides the following advantages ● ● ●

Availability of software for free or at zero cost Solutions/ products available for almost all aspects of school – academic/ non-academic Freedom to localise/ contextualise/ customise the software

As TEACHER, Open Source provides the following advantages ● ● ●

Learn and know about various education related open source softwares Get started with e-learning/ e-teaching using various Open Source tools/ softwares Opportunity to contribute to the progressand development of various pedagogy-based open source softwares/ tools

As STUDENT, Open Source provides the following advantages ● ● ● ●

Opportunity and freedom to work on various open source softwares Opportunity to experiment with source code (programming) of various open source softwares Opportunity to know and learn beyond 'product-specific technology' Opportunity to get involved with open source projects as a developer