rethinking software purchases - open source options

Rethinking software purchasesOpen Source and TESL

John Allan

RETHINKING SOFTWARE PURCHASES

Educational technology is one of many requirements for ESL institutions in Ontario. Educational Technology costs can be categorized by networking, hardware, support, training and software. Software costs can be greatly reduced by carefully assessing the options offered by the trend known as Open Source. Open source offers cost effective solutions that perform as well as commercial software and allow for dramatic saving to institutions. This paper deals with the issues of cost, support, training, upgrades and access.

order of presentation

open source defined genres cost support training upgrades access If time TESL and open source

open source defined

not freeware not shareware programming code unlocked GNU freely available maintenance contracts

open source movement

software is accessible community development more imaginative software a force in the software industry Sun, IBM, Oracle, Intel, Disney, Adobe,

Microsoft & NASA

Hackers

was closely linked to the hacker culture dissipating perception

TESL and open source?

why not TESL?

why open source

reviewed by many eyes independence quick bug fixes Secure industry standards

Apache (server) PHP (language) Perl (language) Linux (operating system) MySQL (database)

Open source examples

Wikipedia OpenCourseWare at MIT WordPress Mozilla Firefox browser

why open source

OpenOffice vs Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office suggested price is 147/unit before tax USD

OpenOffice is free with most and more of the functionality of MS Office

Savings: $$$$$$$$

TESL Contact – resource….

Attendance: Tau http://tau.sourceforge.net/

Audio file converter: RipIT http://www.suwald.com/ripit/ripit.html

Bookmarks: SiteBar http://sitebar.org/features.php

Calendaring: Kronophobia http://kronophobia.sourceforge.net/

CD/DVD BluRay burner: Cdrtools http://cdrecord.berlios.de/old/private/cdrecord.html

Collaborative learning environment: Fle3 http://fle3.uiah.fi/

….TESL Contact resource….

Glossary creator: Glossword http://feeds.feedburner.com/glossword

Gradebook: Gradel http://feeds.feedburner.com/glossword

Image Editing: GIMP http://www.gimp.org/

Library system: emilda http://www.emilda.org/

Multiuser photo gallery: Photo Organizer http://po.shaftnet.org/

Paper review system: PurpleView http://entropymine.com/jason/purpleview/

Quiz Games: AKFQuiz http://tau.sourceforge.net/

….TESL Contact resource….

Free Mind http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Survey & quizzes: TCExam http://www.tecnick.com/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=tcexam

Typing: TuxTyping http://directory.fsf.org/project/TuxTyping/

Video Editing: Open Movie Editor http://www.openmovieeditor.org/

Virtual flashcards: klep Klep http://klep.sourceforge.net/

Tools Desktop..........

web browsermessaging file transfer protocolgamesword processor

parallels the established software offered by traditional software companiesparallels the established software offered by traditional software companies

….Tools Desktop

spreadsheetaudio/video playerschedulerpresentationcalculator

Tools Communication

chat instant messaging video conferencing forums social bookmarks RSS Feed readers collaborative editors (wiki) online journaling or blogging

Tools Creative

audio editor and recorder video digitizer and editor word processor spreadsheet graphics editor (both vector and raster) web site editor presentation learning management systems

Tools management......

learning management system content management system video conferencing grade book schedulers web servers project managers

.......tools management

attendance calendars spreadsheets library systems survey generators operating systems recruiting tools

Training

conferences on line (per course) community FAQ community forums community web sites

Cost

Generally........ open source software is

freeservice contractspackaged to assure quality - Red Hat Linux

access

software, patches and upgrades on line many passwords (tracking the community) access to developers is advantageous access to other end users is advantageous

support

lone wolf community on line conferences contract with 3rd party providers

upgrades

based on work of the community based on demands of the community sub upgrades – minor major upgrades up and downwardly compatible unless a

major shift in authoring (move from PHP to Javex)

caveats

developed outside of a company administrators require dependable support breach of existing contracts instructor

persecution

open source can…

expand your software tools in the areas of communication, administration, development and educational delivery

save budget funds in upgrades, new acquisitions,

wide variety of software available to teachers, administrators and support staff

software offers flexibility and room for experimentation for the TESOL profession

resources referenced

TESL Contact Fall 2008http://www.teslontario.org/uploads/publications/contact/ContactFall2008.pdf

Microsoft Online Storehttp://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/default.aspx

MIT OpenCourseWarehttp://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Wikipedia Open source examples:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages

MySQLhttp://www.mysql.com/

resources referenced

OpenSourcehttp://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

GNU Licencinghttp://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Finished?

Check the time

open source & TESL

CALL programs? none dedicated to TESL may change

Open Source & TESOL

John Higgins, self-taught programmer Jackass Verbalist Switch Doubleup FindWord Sequitir Dropin Eclipse MarkUp Sortset

Open Source & TESOL

altruistic creations programs authored in basements BASIC porgramming

Open Source & TESOL

parallel situation exists people sharing and building upon each others’

code the Internet intensifies the potential of this

phenomenon the promise is unlimited produced by part-time developers hundreds of freely available programs Cutting Edge CALL Demos

Open Source & TESOLToday - Advantages

administrative

inventive