This resource has been drawn from discussions in the General Forum of the Australian Flexible Learning Community during the period July 2002 to December 2004. Many thanks to all who contributed.
Q: Isn’t open source just for geeks and hackers?
No - most of the Internet is running on open source programs (Linux, Bind/DNS, Apache, ssh etc). Open source is just a better way to write good software.
Q. I have this vague perception that the back-up and support for open source software is a weak point. Is this the case?
If you are looking at the likes of the Moodle and similar "Opensource" the back up and support is far greater than most of the "Microsoft" derived products and certainly far better than most of the "commercial" platforms. Moodle has daily updates of the development platform and if there is a problem with the stable version, you can generally have a resolution to an issue within 24 hours.
As for support - well increasing numbers of IT professionals prefer the valued community support of the 'opensource community".
Q. Interesting that some ask "why open source" while others ask "why Microsoft". There are people who have interests in both camps.
There are far more costs involved in maintaining many of the "Microsoft" systems than "Open Source" systems. Because many see only the "front end" of a package, most do not appreciate what happens at the "back end" of an organisation to ensue a secure and reliable IT environment.
At the moment it’s more economical to maintain a Linux/Unix based server than a Microsoft environment particularly where security issues are involved.
Additionally, everyone is talking about collaborative environments, group scheduling, calendaring it providing more efficient workplaces. Reality is people are spending more time learning new packages, their idiosyncrasies, problems etc that at the end of the day, scheduling regular meetings and face to face is still proving a more economical means of communication within organisations.
Q. What about Moodle – is it as good as they say?
As for Moodle - yes it is a good product, but at the end of the day it is still only a facilitation tool to add to the arsenal of weapons. Opensource - yes and it is an evolving product, with a solid band of followers. I would use it any day over the likes of WebCT, Blackboard and Janison's Toolbox - because it allows me to control the environment and be flexible in the deployment. I know that’s a personal opinion that will have critics from all sides putting their argument forward as well.
Q. Why Moodle?
Well first and foremost it is an Australian product, and developed by a very talented and passionate person. Martin is an extremely helpful person, who will go out of his way to help, and is now supported by a band of similar minded people who want to make the environment work. After all 660 (last count) in 67 countries of registered installations of Moodle can't be wrong - or can we? I think not. So supporting a great Aussie product works for me.
Secondly, I am of the belief that all I do is facilitate a learning environment in which participants are the real owners and drivers. The constructivist model that Martin has employed works well in this environment and I enjoy working in that mode. It is a pleasure to watch participants share their knowledge and demonstrate their skills, and every time I enter this environment, I also learn something new.
Q. Aren’t hackers a threat to opensource?
Interestingly enough the open source movement is run by people who call themselves 'hackers' - to 'hack' is to play, tinker, endlessly problem-solve. But the media grabbed the term and now the common understanding of 'hacker' is different from within the communities.
Take a look at Eric Raymond's essay "the cathedral and the bazaar"
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
particularly the chapter on the 'joy of hacking'. For extra background - also http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#what_is - how to become a hacker is very useful reading.
Q. OK – what about crackers then?
It's the 'crackers' you want to watch out for... Crackers will de-compile software and create pirate versions, build and circulate viruses, invade defenseless computers and target attacks against large organisations eg us govt, ms, ibm, yahoo etc
Crackers are not known for voluntarily joining open communities - their pirate (cracked) versions of commercial software are usually in-house, and secret-organisation-ish
(one kind of attack is known as a denial of service or DOS, where the crackers gain control of many computers that simultaneously launch requests on a given server ..
This "DOS" attack has been done to many organisations seen as 'big business' and therefore enemy to the anarchic pirate culture. Earlier this year, Apache.org was subject to some of these attacks .. and many were dumbfounded - Apache is a free open-source software org'n, run by volunteers (i think), and not your big-business type of operation. Some commentators thought that because Apache runs over three quarters of the world's web servers, that somehow it was becoming offensive to your cracker type ..
However, an attack on an organisation's website is not likely to affect your use of the software. All that said, security has become a huge issue, and it should be high on your list of evaluation criteria, no matter what software you are considering.
Q. Any hints on how to make a decision about opensource?
Anyone considering open source as an option for new software should check out http://www.netc.org/openoptions/ It’s a crowd in Portland, Oregon with a brilliant intro including help on decisions.
Q. Sounds like opensource is the way to go. Any warnings?
Yeah, here’s a site that may be of some eye opener on why Australian institutions are wary about it: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1238509,00.asp
However, there are alternatives for Linux, or Unix platforms. A good search for them will give results.
The article I just referred to is interesting and worth reading, however, I would suspect open-source will have a long lifespan and be used extensively - Linux particularly. IBM will not see the community die - they have too much invested in the technology.
There is a lot of open source that will run also under emulators on a windows O/S - a number of LMS's are deployed like that.
For serious deployments I think you will see Linux as the base O/S, I know in a number of installations I have reviewed, the systems engineers are comfortable with using open-source.
Q. You’re clearly on the “for” side of the argument. Anyone ‘against’ opensource?
The largest opponents to open-source are Government agencies. If they do not accept it - then there is little chance that open-source will be permitted within institutions and agencies. That is a fact of life unfortunately. So for the interim - Microsoft rules.
For me - the stability of Linux and open-source LMS's will be the path I travel at the moment. There is far more in the offering than many of the commercial systems.
Q Any other resources for us to check out?
You can find out more about Open Content eg at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/open_content
Open Office is an office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality http://www.openoffice.org/
Plone: A user-friendly and powerful open source Content Management System http://plone.org/
CMaps - The IHMC Concept Mapping Software empowers users to construct, navigate, share, and criticize knowledge models represented as Concept Maps. http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/
The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. http://www.gimp.org/
Arachnophilia is a rather nice Web page editor and workshop
http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/
Careware – visit http://vps.arachnoid.com/careware/
Moodle is a course management system (CMS) http://moodle.org/
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/
Audacity (sound) is a free, fully-functional multi-track audio editor
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
