rethinking software purchases - open source options
DESCRIPTION
This slideshow was delivered at a distance to participants at TESL Ontario in late 2008. It looks at software purchase options for TESL centers and suggests that Open Source software may be a vaild alternative.TRANSCRIPT
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