| I have always been keen on taking advantage of | | | | license.License: many creators who wish to share |
| free offers. Given the choice between a fast food | | | | their intellectual property with others will give away |
| meal with a freebie or one without, I'll plump for the | | | | limited rights that allow the user to do a range of |
| mystery envelope every time. It's human nature, and | | | | things - but still maintain overall control of the way |
| marketers know it well.Even in 1979, when I bought | | | | their work is used. Many open source software |
| my first home computer, there were user groups | | | | developers will use the GNU Public License (GPL) as a |
| who supplied type-in listings for a nominal charge. | | | | framework for stating how their work can be |
| When I bought the first of a series of Atari ST | | | | used.Open source software does not have to be |
| computers in the '80s and '90s, I was a regular | | | | synonymous with poorly written undocumented |
| customer and contributor to a public domain (PD) | | | | utilities that nobody else wants. Here are a few of |
| software library. Fast forward to the end of the '90s | | | | my favourites:Open Office: a fully-fledged office |
| and I was distributing the source code to a number | | | | suite, word-processor, spreadsheet, presentation |
| of simple educational flash games to other teachers | | | | software and graphics package. The fact that these |
| over the internet.So that's my credentials. Like many | | | | programs will export both PDF format to be read by |
| others, however, I have received much more from | | | | Adobe Acrobat reader and SWF flash files for use on |
| open source software than I have ever put in. For | | | | the web makes them incredibly useful to me. They |
| the uninitiated, it is worth explaining a few definitions | | | | are the main application software that I use on my |
| here:Shareware Software: is free to try, but there is | | | | laptop.The GIMP: an image processing package with |
| a moral obligation to register your software with its | | | | enough features to rival Photoshop. For younger |
| creator and receive upgrades and support in return | | | | artists, my daughters love Tux Paint with its variety |
| for a fee. The evaluation period may last for a | | | | of stamps and special features.Moodle: an open |
| reasonable length of time after which some features | | | | source content management system specifically |
| of the software may become unusable.The Public | | | | designed for educators. There are plenty of other |
| Domain: if the creator of a work relinquishes all his | | | | open source CMS packages available for blogging or |
| rights to his intellectual property, it enters the public | | | | running your own web portal.David Hellam is an |
| domain and can be used by others to create | | | | international educator, currently working on a project |
| derivative works or profit from it without payment | | | | at to build a homepage for the professional educator. |
| of any fees or need for some form of | | | | |