Educator and Student Use and Development of Open Source Software and Resources Rita Hauck Technology Studies Department, Fort Hays State University Hays, KS 67601, USA ABSTRACT explained in detail at opensource.com and further discussed later in this paper. The concept of OS dates This paper posits that educators should understand and support back to the first sharing of recipes and other pre-personal Open Source software and resources. The objectives of the computer “instant messaging” strategies among friends study include 1) an introduction to the study of Open Source for and other acquaintances in social networks. educators 2) discussion of the history and definition of Open Source, 3) presentation of ways and means to promote the use and development of Open Source software and resources, 4) presentation of bona fide Open Source resources for educators 2. HISTORY AND DEFINITION OF OPEN and students, 5) presentation of samples of use and development SOURCE of Open Source in education, 6) discussion of both pros and cons of using Open Source software and resources, and 7) a Rather than starting at the moment of the first such conclusion. sharing, or with “broad spectrum” innovation giants like William Thomson1 (1850s), this paper starts the history Keywords: Open Source, GNU, Linux, Redhat, social of OS at the emergence of the computer age when networks, critical thinking, authentic learning. creative computer geniuses began sharing code, mathematical equations, ideas, and “software”– too many 1. INTRODUCTION to mention here, except for Vannevar Bush (1930s), Claude Shannon (1937), Tim Berners-Lee (1989), Educators should do more to support student use and Richard Stallman (1971), and Linus Benedict Torvalds development of Open Source (OS) software and (1991). The author was surprised at the unexpected depth resources. Seemingly obvious reasons for the increased of this topic which is much like an iceberg. The 80% support for OS are promotion of creativity, authentic that‟s under water is barely explored here; it is hoped that freedom of expression, freedom of access to educational the links and references provided will lead the curious to resources, and practice in critical thinking and decision a greater depth of understanding of OS and its making skills. Learning to find, use, and adapt OS implications for educators. software can instill a confidence to learn and apply new information, and competence to build upon prior History knowledge. Another advantage of OS is the opportunity to experience the benefits of collaboration with peers as The OS concept is as “old as the hills” but the current well as innovators, and the gratification of applied focus is on software and source code accessibility. In learning. Such abilities and achievement may fly in the describing his work on the design of the navigation face of myths such as “I can‟t do math” roadblocks to system for what he states “would now be called a cruise learning. Rather, they support Physics Professor at Fort missile” – the Snark, from 1959 to 1961, Reed sets the Hays State University in Kansas, Dr. Paul Adams, in his stage for the history of OS, or the “Dawn of the presentation about teaching science when he propelled Computer Era” as the article is called. It involves a himself on an auto mechanics “creeper” across the front continually growing community with passion to share of an auditorium, using a fire extinguisher as a personal and promote freedom to learn and innovate [1]. The rocket engine and being driven as well by his passion to Redhat website attributes the beginning of modern help each student “become an Albert Einstein.” computer OS to the founding of ARPANET in 1968 [2]. Educators can take responsibility and determine the The Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) was computer software wave of the future rather than ride the the beginning of Microsoft, initially being an Open crest of advancing, undefined, undetermined commercial Source operating system. Hobbyists and computer products. The working definition of OS for this paper has a purposeful, functional, yet limited scope. This OS does 1 “Steele, who worked full-time on the [Snark navigation] not need a formal legal license, but rather has an informal project, instead took his cues from the mechanical differential license to define a non-fragmented future for education, a analyzers that had been developed in the 1930s by Vannevar future punctuated by passion rather than greed. Open Bush at MIT, based on 19th-century work by William Source in this paper is transparent software code and Thomson, the first Baron Kelvin, [rather than the planned “state of the art” educational materials that are available celestial navigation system]. These machines used wheels, for others to modify and use as they choose in the gears, and cams to create a mechanical analogue of the learning environment. equations. (A drafting compass can be thought of as a simple analog computer, programmed to solve the equation that The OS Initiative (OSI) organization founded in 1998 describes a circle of a given radius.) The famous Norden bombsight used in World War II was a small, mechanical, very supports an OS Definition that has the ten rights clever Kelvin-inspired differential analyzer” [1]. scientists in the 1970s through 1990s developed computer Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971. The “infancy period” operating systems that had an umbrella term of disk of Linux was 1991 to 1993. The documentary features operating system, commonly known as DOS. It‟s an interviews with key OS players, including Torvalds and example of how OS has led to some very important Stallman with commentary by Eric Raymond, author of proprietary software systems. The various DOS systems The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Raymond notes in the were not compatible with each other but became documentary that he chose “Cathedral” to represent the proprietary systems such as MS-DOS, Apple DOS, Atari traditional and hierarchical control versus the “Bazaar” DOS, and Commodore DOS. Microsoft DOS basically that offers a variety of choices. Bruce Perens noted, “trumped” IBM with its DOS, although both companies “Netscape went open source, essentially to beat both started in essentially the same place with the same Microsoft” in 1998, naming its browser project „Mozilla‟ basic operating system. after the original Navigator code name. The documentary shows the first office of VA Linux Systems where they VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet software – author moved in 1995, and explains it was the place where the bought it along with IBM‟s groundbreaking 5150 PC in term Open Source originated, to be used in lieu of the 1981! VisiCalc also began in 1979 as a hobbyist‟s “OS,” term „free software‟ which might give the illusion of as defined in this paper. Another example of OS is Open „cheap‟ or have other misleading connotations, especially Office, a currently popular suite of applications that was suggesting that someone should not want to use it due to developed by Sun Microsystems, apparently to check the inadequate marketing, development or resilience. Microsoft juggernaut, providing essentially the same Raymond attributes the term “Open Source” to Christine functionality as Microsoft‟s Office suite. Particularly, in Peterson who was in the group making the decision. the third world, Open Office will likely be widely Apache web server, described as “the killer ap of web adopted, although its recent “donation” by Oracle (Sun servers” touted to be the “must have technology” for Microsystems‟ successor) to the Apache Foundation may Linux, motivating “many ISP and e-commerce significantly change its future. Wikipedia is a classic OS, companies to choose Linux over Microsoft‟s Windows.” inviting volunteers to write, edit and augment articles. Redhat and Oracle also played significant roles in broadening the scope of Linux. The documentary also While proprietary software and resources were evolving, provides a history of the attempts and eventual success of so was the development of Linux-based products, and some players to attract venture capitalist investment [5]. free Google products such as Google Earth, Picassa, and Google Documents. In 2001, “Microsoft's Ballmer calls A Redhat history timeline from 1968 to 2009 and a Linux Linux the biggest threat to Microsoft” [2]. In 2009, a history with images from Business Insider both Linux follower noted, “Microsoft is open source's biggest complement the documentary and this paper. Of interest threat” [3]. This was the main reason that Sun from the Red Hat timeline‟s 2001 events is “Red Hat Microsystems supported the development of Open Office proposes to provide free software to every school district and why Google supported Firefox as competition for in the United States if Microsoft pays for the computing Microsoft‟s dominant Internet browser. hardware in an alternative to Microsoft's class action lawsuit settlement plan” and from 2008, “Red Hat partners with the Georgia Institute of Technology to As the competition among the technology giants release worldwide study comparing and contrasting open continues, educators seek economical, reliable, and source activity across 75 countries [2]. In 2001, equitable software support and resources. While there “Microsoft announced its Shared Source campaign to now are multiple software sources, commercial combat the Open Source movement” [5]. On June 2, companies are forming partnerships and foundations to 2011, Oracle donated the Sun-developed Open Office to entice schools to continue to buy their products and the Apache Foundation [6]. As of June 3, 2011, services. For example, the Bill & Melinda Gates valinux.com is “Geeknet” with the “bottom line” on the Foundation has partnered with a foundation of the web page noting, “. SourceForge.net, Slashdot, Pearson textbook and school technology company to ThinkGeek and freshmeat are registered trademarks and develop courses rich with media that will promote the Geeknet is a trademark of Geeknet, Inc.” core standards adopted by 40 states for K-12 English and Math.