[This is a repost … this was originally posted when fewer than nine people, including myself, read this blog. There is current interest in this topic, so here it is.]

This FAQ is written for teachers who are considering switching to OpenSource software for at least some of their needs. I am NOT a full-fledged computer geek, so I hope that the information provided here is more directly useful to most teachers than what one generally finds on the web. However, there is a great deal more to know than I am providing, and it is of interest, so I’ve provided links to additional information where appropriate.

Why should I even read this FAQ?

Teachers work very hard, are paid very little, have very little time, and the little time that is available is usually spent decompressing from many hours of classroom time. On top of this, circumstances force teachers to either use inferior software to do their work as well as for personal use; to pay out of pocket for commercial software that is generally pretty useful but potentially costly; or to pirate the software and thus be engaged in felonious activities, which ruins the whole idea of being the role model you want to be.
OpenSource software offers a solution to this problem.

What is OpenSource software?

It is computer software written by geeks who have devoted their lives to doing this sort of thing, that you can download, install, and use for free. You can usually use this software for any purpose (i.e., personal and professional). If you are a geek too and modify the software to make it better, you usually have to provide the modified version for others to use, just as you had access to the software to begin with.

There are more details than this, which are very unlikely to be important to teachers. But to find out more go here:

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html

OpenSouce software is not “freeware” and it is not “shareware.” These terms usually apply to commercial products for which the terms “free” and “share” are marketing tools.

What kind of software is available as OpenSource?

For every kind of software for which there is a commercial market, there is probably at least one if not several OpenSource equivalents. The exceptions to this are esoteric and unimportant to 99% of computer users, except for certain multimedia software. Because multimedia formats are often proprietary, it is often the case that the software that allows you to view these media are also often proprietary. This however does not necessarily mean that the software is not free. That depends.

This can be a big issue for teachers, because media is often important. However, this is not an unresolvable problem at all. If you are using proprietary multimedia (such as Microsoft(tm), Real(tm) or Apple(tm) formats of various kinds) then you can generally continue to use it even if you switch to mostly OpenSource.

Is OpenSource software any good?

You may have already had experience with “freeware” or “shareware.” Much of that software is either not very good, works OK but has certain functionality turned off until you pay for it, or a timer that turns it off after a certain number of days. At best it is annoying, and often, it functions poorly or obnoxiously.

In this regard OpenSource software is infinitely better. OpenSource software is developed by geeks who are even more annoyed by these thing than you are. OpenSource software never nags you, never has timers or disabled functions, and never asks you to “register.” Installation is therefore always less annoying.

Some OpenSource software is annoyingly geeky. In order to install certain software, you may be informed that you have to first install some library or otherwise tweak something that you did not even know existed. This is a bad thing, but it has become less and less common.

Most of the most important OpenSource software (at least to teachers) does not require any more work to install than the equivalent commercial software. It is usually easier to install than commercial equivilants.

Yes, but it is any good once it’s installed?

The short answer is yes, not only is much of the available OpenSource software “as good” but some is simply better than the commercial equivalents. However, this has to be examined in more detail, not because there are caveats to this general rule, but because I feel the need to convince you that it is true.

First, much OpenSource software crashes or fails in some way either less often than or about the same as equivalent commercial software. When it does break, the makers of the software do not stonewall you and make you feel bad (by blaming the victim) or deny that it is broken (by describing a bug as “expected behavior,” etc.). It is almost always true that equivalent OpenSource and commercial software will have different problems. So if you are used to using Acme Word Processor and you switch to an OpenSource word processor, you may encounter a new problem. But realistically Acme had problems too, but you’ve adjusted to them.

In some ways, many of the mainstream OpenSource products are better than the commercial versions because they are OpenSource. For instance, installation, as mentioned, is often more straightforward and less annoying. Also, some commercial software is designed in a way that makes no sense today, but is at is is for historical reasons, and marketing considerations seem to require not changing the design. Since many of the mainstream OpenSource products are newer, they are more freshly redesigned. See the sidebar on “Page Formatting” for an example.

I can think of examples of commercial software that lost what I considered to be important functions as development cycles marched on. This is highly unlikely with OpenSource software, and I can’t think of any example of it.

Since OpenSource software is developed, potentially, by the entire software community of the planet Earth, as opposed to a team of full time developers working for one company, there are more person-hours of highly qualified work going into many OpenSource projecrts.
Also because of the open nature of OpenSource development, we see the development of what are called “libraries” that are central to any software project. These libraries are used by various OpenSource programs. Each time a particular software project advances, there is a chance that this will also advance the quality of the software library, which all the other geeks in the entire world can use. This contributes to the often superior functionality of OpenSource software.

Sidebar: Page Formatting

This is an example of redesign in OpenSource software that I suspect shows that fresher, and more user-oriented (rather than market oriented) can produce a better product. In many commercial word processors, if you want to format some text, a paragraph, or some design element like “bullets,” you go to the “Format” menu and then choose “character” or “paragraph” or “bullets and numbering.” But, if you want to format the page you go under “File” then choose a menu item to format the page. I believe there are historical reasons for this annoying quirk. In one of the mainstream OpenSource products, OpenOffice Writer, if you want to format anything, you go to the “Format” menu and find the menu item you need there. This makes more sense, and I suspect that this is simply a product of sensible re-design.

Many OpenSource products, such as the aforementioned OpenOffice Writer, are explicit efforts to offer a mainstream alternative to the major commercial products. OpenOffice is a complete office suite including a word processor, a spreadsheet, a drawing (vector) program, a database, and a presentation program. Each of these software applications does pretty much what the commercial equivalent does. There are some features that are not present in the commercial version that are present in the OpenSource version and visa versa. Each will have it’s own unique bugs…

But how easy is it to switch to OpenSource from what I am using now?

… continuing the thought from the previous question…

A product like OpenOffice is different enough from an equivalent commercial product that you will feel the difference at first. You will search around a bit for menu items, and wonder now and then how to do something that you had previously learned to do automatically.
A product like OpenOffice is similar enough to an equivalent commercial product that you will forget you are using a new software application in a very short time.

A product like OpenOffice is suffiicently better in key respects that after you have used it for a while, and find yourself using the commercail equivalent for some reason, you will be annoyed at certain features of the commercial product and wonder why you did not switch to OpenSource sooner.

What is the connection between OpenSource, Windows, and Linux?

This is a larger question than I can deal with here, but I think I know what you are getting at. Linux is an OpenSource system that can replace Windows on your PC. Linux is way way better for a lot of reasons, and is fairly easy to install and use. However, putting Linux on your computer is still geeky enough that most non-geeky teachers should not do it. I hate to say that, because I believe Linux is the ONLY way to go for teachers. However, it will require a sort of behavioral revolution that, is beyond the already tapped out energy level of most teachers. There are programs out there to help teachers and schools make the switch to Linux (especially Ubuntu Linux, a particular form of Linux which is superior to all others for the average non-geek user). If you are a teacher, I really want you to switch to Linux completely. The day my wife, a science teacher, makes the switch, I will come back and rewrite this FAQ to make a more convincing argument for the rest of you’all.

Microsoft Windows is, of course, a proprietary commercial system that you run on your computer so you can, in turn, run other software. I could give you a list of good things and bad things about Windows. I believe it is a very impressive system, but also that it has some deep problems, not the least of which (for teachers) is that it is not free. (You may not think you are paying for it, but you are. Unless, of course, you are a felon, which I doubt.)

The good news is that much OpenSource software … indeed, most of the most important applications for you if you are considering the switch … run on Windows. In some cases, the Windows version is not as good in some usually minor ways. In some ways it is just the same, but with the Windows interface features you already know how to use. In some cases, the Windows version is actully better. What makes this differene is how much the geek community working on this software is involved with Linux vs. Windows. For instance, I use a fairly geeky statistics applicatin called “R” on my Linux machine, and I look enviously at all the Windows-related enhancements that a very active community of Windows-R-geeks are developing.

A key factor here is that the OpenSource philosophy itself overlaps with a sort of “platform independant” philosophy. For this reason, there are software development tools (you don’t need to know what that is in any detail) that make it fairly routine for software developers (the geeks) to deploy their OpenSource products on Linux and Windows as well as Apple computers.

Linux and OpenSource are linked in another way that is important to your decision. Both of these geek-worlds (or geek-philosophies) very much overlap in both how to do things and who is doing it. Thus, knowing how good Linux is (or is not) as a softwre project in and of itself may influence what you think about OpenSource in general. In other words, does the OpenSource philosophy of software development work at all? If Linux is solid, then perhaps this is evidence that OpenSource in general is solid.

Linux is solid. Linux is a fully functional version of the broader family of systems known as Unix. (Unix is commercial.) The two systems are essentially interchangeable, and most “*nix” (that’s what they call Unix and/or Linux) systems that exist today are Linux, not Unix. A majority of demanding, mission critical systems use Linux rather than, say, Windows.. For instance, a majority of web servers use *nix (mostly Linux). Whenever you use the web, you are mainly using *nix even if the computer you are surfing on is a Windows computer or a Mac. If you are using a Mac with System X, the underlying system is a *nix system adapted by Apple to run System X on. NASA uses *nix (I think quite often Linux). I’ve read that most devices such as network boxes and other thingies that need to have computer systems build into them use Linux. PlayStation 2 runs Linux.

What do I do if I want to give this a try?

Install OpenOffice on a computer you use most of the time and start using it’s software instead of whatever you are using now. Save your documents in the widely used pripietory formats such as Microsfoft Word or Excel format (OpenOffice reads and writes these formats) so that you can communicate with your non-OpenSource colleagues. Get used to the new software. Over time you may add additional OpenSource products to your kit.

This strategy has got to be better than using Microsoft Works. At least other people will be able to read your files!!!!
Here are some examples of OpenSource software that is in my opinion pretty good and runs on both Windows and Linux. (I have tried the Windows version only some of these). The purpose of this list is to give you an idea of what can be done, not to recommend specific products. Where I have personally used the Windows version and found it to work well, I’ve added an asterick (*).

Word Processors (commercial equivalent: Microsoft Word, Correl WordPerfect)
OpenOffice Writer*
Abiword

Spreadsheet
OpenOffice Calc*
Gnumeric

Web Browser (Commercial equivalent: Microsoft Explorer)
Firefox*

Database (Commercial equivalent: Microsoft Access, Filemaker)
OpenOffice Base (note: The newest version is totally different from older versions, much improved.)

Vector Drawing (commercial equivalent: Adobe illustrator, Coreldraw)
OpenOffice Draw
Inkscape

Bitmap Graphics (commercial equivalent: Adobe Photoshop)
The Gimp*
Gimpshop … this is a version of The Gimp that is made to look and feel more like Photoshop, to ease migratin to it.