Open Source, OpenOffice, Intellectual Property, Alternatives to Monopoly


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The Open Source Movement
Open Source – Open Content – Open Standards

An alternative to monopolization of the internet, communications,
the economy, and life! (a People- & Planet-Friendly Portal & Guide)

Contents
(A) The Open Source Movement – free as in freedom, not "free beer"
(B) Applications for Home & Office – free-of-charge alternatives to Microsoft Office, Explorer & Outlook, including OpenOffice & Mozilla
(C) Website Hosting & Development – including PHP and online databases

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” – Audre Lorde

(A) The Open Source Movement

Open Source is a practical approach to not only computer software, but the economy in general.

Open Source software can be much more affordable (or even free); more reliable, capable, adaptable and secure (than proprietary software). As an example, please see the section on OpenOffice 1.1, below.

The Open Source approach could help to create a green and sustainable economy, by enabling a shift from a product-based to a service-based economy. Advocates claim the Open Source approach can greatly empower diverse enterprise and innovation, rather than current monopolistic ways (see "Who are the Luddites?", below).

Why is Open Source Better than Proprietary?
Open Systems (from Ottawa's Flora.ca consulting and web hosting) www.flora.ca/open.shtml
The Open Source Initiative: www.opensource.org , www.opensource.org/advocacy/
The Case for Customers www.opensource.org/advocacy/case_for_business.php
The Case for Business www.opensource.org/advocacy/case_for_business.php
Why Software Should Not Have Owners www.fsf.org/philosophy/why-free.html (2) (free as in "freedom", not "free beer")
Why Open Source Doesn't Suck http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2000090300320OPSW http://tim.oreilly.com/opensource/
Collaboration in the Age of the Internet www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2000/04/13/CFPkeynote.html

The Political & Ethical Case for the adoption of "free" software. "Development, Ethical Trading, and Free Software": http://danny.oz.au/freedom/ip/aidfs.html www.fsf.org/philosophy/why-free.html

Who are the "Luddites" in the Post-Industrial Economy? http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=158

Environmental Sustainability and Open Source – What does Open Source have to do with environmental sustainability? What do Monsanto, Microsoft and Disney have in common? http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=115

Intellectual Monopolies and Canadian Copyright Reform: http://weblog.flora.ca/search.php3?topic_id=42&section_id=8 , www.flora.org/dmca/

The Free Software Movement – free as in freedom, not "free beer"
Why Free Software (free as in "freedom") www.fsf.org/philosophy/why-free.html
Philosophy of the GNU Project www.fsf.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
About Free Software (free as in "freedom") www.fsf.org/philosophy/philosophy.html#AboutFreeSoftware
Software, Documentation & Other Licenses www.fsf.org/licenses/licenses.html
The Free Software Foundation (free as in "freedom") www.fsf.org/fsf/fsf.html
Free Software, Free Society (book) – selected essays of Richard M. Stallman www.fsf.org/doc/book13.html

Definitions: Free Software, Open Source, Copyleft, Public Domain...
Definitions, Terms, Licenses, Copyright, Copyleft www.fsf.org/philosophy/categories.html
Difference Between the "Free Software" and "Open Source" movements www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html
Free Software / Open Source / FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) www.flora.ca/floss.shtml
What is Copyleft? www.fsf.org/licenses/licenses.html#WhatIsCopyleft

Collaboration, Cooperation & Competition
Open Source - The Model for Collaboration in the Age of the Internet www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2000/04/13/CFPkeynote.html http://tim.oreilly.com/opensource/
http://weblog.flora.org/article.php3?story_id=180 www.thinkcycle.org
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Knowledge_Management/Knowledge_Flow/Collaboration/
http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Cooperatives/ http://dmoz.org/Business/Cooperatives/
www.planetfriendly.net/community.html#cooperatives www.planetfriendly.net/business.html#links

Business and Economic Problems & Alternatives www.planetfriendly.net/business.html

Why Avoid Microsoft?
Criticisms of Microsoft http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microsoft&oldid=229217535#Criticism
Boycott Microsoft www.google.com/search?q=%22boycott+microsoft%22
What's wrong with Microsoft? google search
Microsoft vs. Open Standards www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+vs.+open+standards
Making Microsoft Safe For Capitalism www.around.com/microsoft.html
Is Microsoft a Monopoly? http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=110 www.cptech.org/ms/ www.gnu.org/philosophy/microsoft-antitrust.html | What is a Monopoly? (2)
Is Microsoft Criminally Negligent for the spread of viruses? www.flora.org/flora/server/comnet-www/1946 www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/1563 www.flora.org/flora/help/flora-admin-help/1284
Why is Explorer so bad? (newspaper article, Guardian UK 2004) full story | related stories | more
More: Google search for "boycott Microsoft" www.google.com/search?q=%22boycott+microsoft%22
Google search for "avoid Microsoft" www.google.com/search?q=%22avoid+microsoft%22
Living Without Microsoft – portal to "realistic alternatives to Microsoft" – whether open source or proprietary. www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org

Why Avoid AOL/Time Warner?
AOL Watch www.aolwatch.org www.aolwatch.org/aolwatch27.htm
Boycott AOL www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/7911/no-aol.html
Media Concentration www.mediachannel.org/ownership/ (including the Media Ownership Chart – look for AOL Time Warner)

Corporate Dirt Archives www.corporations.org/corplist.html#computers http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Business/Allegedly_Unethical_Firms/

More Free Software & Open Source Links:
Volunteers Online www.volunteersonline.ca/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=143
Open Source Links http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=157
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Open_Source/

Open Standards for an Open Society:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Open_Standards/
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Data_Formats/Open_Standards/

Other related pages at Planetfriendly.net:
E-mail Tips & Strategies www.planetfriendly.net/emailtips.html
Virus Self-Protection Primer www.planetfriendly.net/virustips.html
What's Wrong With Attachments? www.planetfriendly.net/attachments.html especially Word attachments
Questioning Business www.planetfriendly.net/business.html
What is the commons? www.planetfriendly.net/commons.html

Free Speech or Free Beer? "Open Source" software is also known as "Free Software". While sometimes it is indeed free of charge, more often, "free" is meant as in "freedom" or "free speech" – not as in "free beer". See: www.fsf.org/philosophy/why-free.html www.flora.ca/open.shtml . See also: "Commercial" vs. "Proprietary": http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=111

Freedom or Power? "Freedom is being able to make decisions that affect mainly you. Power is being able to make decisions that affect others more than you. If we confuse power with freedom, we will fail to uphold real freedom." – Bradley M. Kuhn and Richard M. Stallman www.fsf.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html

(B) Software for home and office

A free-of-charge, full-featured, secure alternative to Microsoft Office...

OpenOffice – A free-of-charge, virus-free and monopoly-free alternative to Microsoft Office. "OpenOffice is what's called an open-source project: a carefully orchestrated group effort by programmers all over the world, donating their time and talent to making a dent in the Microsoft monopoly". – New York Times. Features & interface are nearly identical to Microsoft Office; switching is a snap. Includes word processor, spreadsheet, presentation & graphics program, web-page editor. Available as a 50-mega download, free of charge. Packaged version, available from Sun Microsystems, is $25 to $76US and includes a printed manual, a database program, and fee-based technical help. OpenOffice documents are immune to macro viruses / attachment viruses. Polished, stable and fast; available in 27 languages; and runs under Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. Version 1.1 is now out – click here for a product/feature description. www.openoffice.org . To download for free, go to www.openoffice.org and click on Download "Application". Or try this link to download the Windows English version (then click on any site in a country near you). Related links:
Canadian website: www.openoffice.ca
Frequently asked questions (FAQ's): www.openoffice.org/faq.html
Packaged version "StarOffice": http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/ , www.sun.com
New York Times article: www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/technology/circuits/20STAT.html
eWeek Magazine: www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,118760,00.asp
More on OpenOffice: http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Office_Suites/OpenOffice.org/

The Open CD – "a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience". www.theopencd.org

Mozilla – A free-of-charge software suite including a web browser, e-mail, news reader and chat software. An alternative to Internet Explorer and Outlook. Download for free: www.mozilla.org Go to the "Download Mozilla" section, or: www.mozilla.org/releases/stable.html

Other Open Source and Free Software

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Open_Source/
www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/
http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=157 (scroll down to the section on "Other Open Source/Free Software")

Open Source and Proprietary alternatives to Microsoft

Living Without Microsoft is a portal site for finding "realistic alternatives to Microsoft software", whether open source or proprietary. www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org

(C) Website hosting and development

Most of the internet is and has always been hosted on Open Source systems, such as Apache server.

Open Source website hosts in Canada and beyond

The following is by no means a complete list.

(1) Serving mostly nonprofits, community groups, progressive businesses and agencies

Canada:
Flora Community Web – community/nonprofit hosting. www.flora.org | www.flora.org/flora/community.phtml
Flora Community Consulting – hosting, consulting, development www.flora.ca
Greenfire Canada – databases, communication consulting, project management. Developer of the Ontario Environmental Directory. Description of services offered: www.greenfire.ca | www.peterblanchard.ca
Open Concept – hosting, consulting, development: www.openconcept.ca
Web Networks – community/nonprofit hosting, consulting and development "We offer a selection of Microsoft-based services only for compatibility with your legacy systems, and provide only minimal customer support. But we're very happy to help you migrate your services to our UNIX platform." www.web.ca
USA community and activist hosts: www.igc.org | www.hostingohio.com | www.grassroots.org (2) | www.riseup.net | www.mallorn.com
Worldwide – other community networks and freenets (most of which are open source):
www.apc.org www.apc.org/english/about/members/index.shtml | www.gandi.net | more (2)

(2) Open Source hosts focusing primarily on "mainstream" customers

What's that site running? http://uptime.netcraft.com e.g. http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.google.com (enter the URL of any website or host, in place of google.com). In the "OS, Web Server and Hosting History" section, look at the most recent OS and Server. "Linux" and "FreeBSD" are Open Source platforms (Windows is not).

Website Design, Scripting and Databases

The three most important, accessible, affordable and sustainable tools for any website:

HTML – the foundation of the web, whether you code it yourself or use editing software
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Data_Formats/Markup_Languages/HTML/
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Markup_Languages/HTML/

PHP – general purpose scripting language highly suited for web development and embedding into HTML www.php.net http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/PHP/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/PHP/

MySQL – the world's most popular open source database www.mysql.com
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Databases/MySQL/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Databases/MySQL/

Other Open Source web development software
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Open_Source/
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/

Website Design Tips & Resources

So You Want a Website? www.openconcept.ca/index.php/SoYouWantAWebSite/
Nine things to make your website better www.scribbling.net/entry/310/
Website Usability Resources www.usabilityfirst.com/websites/
Writing Electronic Text - Tips & Guidelines for Writers http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/
Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace www.useit.com/alertbox/9606.html
Accessible Site Design Guide www.anybrowser.org/campaign/abdesign.html
Top Open Source Tools for eActivism www.openconcept.ca/index.php/top10
Content Management Systems (CMS) Test Drive www.opensourcecms.com
The Open CD www.theopencd.org

Popular websites that use Open Source

Google is based on Open Source technology, and uses Open Source extensively in their business (more info and here); Amazon is largely Open Source.

Most but not all nonprofit and activist sites are Open Source. Just a few examples: www.rabble.ca http://cybercentre.greenpeace.org/t/s/index_html http://pgs.ca www.papertiger.org .

PlanetFriendly.net uses Open Source software only and is hosted on an Open Source host, Flora.ca. Note: If you're not impressed with the graphic or technical features of our site, please note that this has nothing to do with our being Open Source. Rather, it's because we have not yet had the time or money for professional site/graphic design (volunteers welcome!). Our community calendar application is based on PHP and MySQL.

Countless other organizations and websites use Open Source. See the website hosts listed above for many more.

Other related pages on this site

E-mail Tips & Strategies www.planetfriendly.net/emailtips.html
Virus Self-Protection Primer www.planetfriendly.net/virustips.html
What's Wrong With Attachments? www.planetfriendly.net/attachments.html especially Word attachments

Please note that none of the listings on this page are paid advertising.

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