Therese Weel

Hello everyone,

I am  impressed with the opportunity the internet affords as a tool for self learning.  In 2003 I explored web publishing by converting  a front page site that I had been using to post my trip photos to some blogging software.

My first blog was a personal blog. Eventually I decided personal information and  photos were better shared privately so I transitioned over to do some "serious" tech writing in 2006.

Currently my blog is used to informally post information that I find of interest.  The value is mostly internal.  An opportunity to note and reflect on what I find interesting.  It can be a time consuming discipline.

This is a writing sample from last year on blogging software that may be of interest to this group.

http://virtualtoolshed.ca/pdfs/VT-Blogware.pdf

Therese

 

Thanks Bruno

I really appreciate your insight.   We need to do more than read the wikipedia definition or the various licenses.  Experience is the best teacher as it allows us to get a feel for how to work in open source and the implications of doing so.

Found this recent article in Information Age, thought I would offer it here.

Open Source Grows Up.   Information Age November 2006

http://www.information-age.com/article/2006/november_2006/open_source_grows_up

I like RMS as well. We need more like him.

His ideas resonated quite strongly with me and the behaviors I had seen in government and industry.  Which are evil - or in my words selfish, dishonest, disempowering and exploitative. The Blackboard WebCT patent thing is one example

I ran free software on my laptop for a year to learn linux and see what  could be done.  With the exception of Skype everything was FOSS.  My laptop was my only computer at the time. 

I enjoyed using linux  and the learning curve. It is a different animal.   I was disappointed that major manufacturers of peripherials such as cameras and PDAs dont cater to linux users. I was able to work out most of the device issues  with the help of those who had gone before me.  In fact everything was fine until I  downloaded a  proprietary client and messed up my sound card so badly that I decided to buy a new windows box to keep going.

I prefer working in linux.  No advertising, no viruses, no nonsense, if you want some software - just download some. 

It`s a refreshing change.

With that said.  The downside is the time and effort it takes to use this stuff. I would appreciate some "Coles Notes" to help me wrap my head around it.

Re-reading your first post - here is an excerpt I like because it nicely describes a key point.

While a portion of the population does make conscious choices based on values, there is a large segment which avoids self-examination. Instead, their choices are guided by expediency and price point.... Perhaps, Stallman (2004) sums this up best when he speaks of  “an "economistic" approach to all these issues, and economics, as it often does, operates as a .. [vehicle] for unexamined values.

Thanks again Julia for this opportunity to examine and express my views on this subject.

Thanks for sharing this Julia

I see the confusing array of these supplementary licenses part of a larger renaissance.   How can we develop value, distribute that value and share in the benefits in a global connected economy.  Glad we have had open source software to work out some of these issues.    I agree with your comments about proprietary and open source licensing co-existing.  If there is a healthy open source alternative, the user will benefit by adopting it.  However if you are on the leading edge there is nothing wrong with charging for your software under a user license or as a service. If it has value people will buy it.  If not...well maybe it`s time to try your hand at something else.  

I spent years installing enterprise systems. We took our clients processes and business knowledge, turned it into software and sold it back to them.   If a healthy open source alternative existed,  it would be much less expensive and the software would eventually be better as a whole than what free market competition would produce.  Plus you could choose who you wanted to help you and would not get stuck in a legal quagmire with a single service provider.

I've been looking at this stuff for a few years now and it's still clear as mud.  I get the gist of it and that's good enough for me.

Open source is an attractive buzz word,  there are a few venture backed ASP platforms built on open source software.  These applications use the "peace love and open source " meme to reel in the unsuspecting while less popularized products actually provide better value.  Also, I have found that in some communities, IMO the code is deliberately flawed and hobbled in the same way that some freeware applications are.   We'll have to look a bit more into human nature to work that one out.

That`s what Wendy Kopps Princeton professor said to her in 1989 when she was searching for a topic for her senior thesis.

http://www.teachforamerica.com/assets/documents/0606_ReadersDigest_Money.Makers.The.Problem.Solver.pdf

Wendy`s idea was the ground work for http://www.teachforamerica.com

A wonderful example of social entrepreneurism.

Today in our country, nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities.

Half of them won't graduate from high school.

Those who do graduate will, on average, read and do math at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities.

This is our nation's most pressing problem.

But it doesn't have to be this way. While the problem is daunting, we see evidence every day in classrooms across the country that when students in low-income communities are given the educational opportunities they deserve, they excel.

It is this—the clear potential of students—that makes the disparities in educational outcomes so unconscionable and fuels our sense of urgency and responsibility to do everything we can to ensure educational opportunity for all.

Watch videos of corps members and alumni talk about their personal views on this issue.

http://www.teachforamerica.com/mission/index.htm