This assignment has value to CTER 2 students. Thanks to Paul for covering the background and clearing up some questions.  With that information and a number of other sources, we will attempt to further our understanding.  By the way, many thanks to Becky, Tammy, George, and Gloria for good points of relevance to “Open Source.” I concur with Sue and Jennifer’s theories.

Cost is an important factor to the educational world in many aspects.  Cost per hour of instruction, cost of infrastructure, cost of educational products, etc.; they are all there.  However, in the sense of open source, schools may indeed have been to the cathedral.  So much so, that they cannot separate themselves from the “church”.  The reason is simple.  Those who run our schools, i.e., school boards, administrators, parents, and others, are afraid or inept of the use of technology.   Therefore, they pay someone else to do their job and substantiate their responsibilities.  The teachers in the trenches do not have that prerogative.  We have to become technologically expert.
Before Microsoft (MS) established itself as the operating system of choice, software and the code behind it came in this manner, hand to hand, computer to computer.  It was IBM’s intent to retain open source distribution, but people began buying computers and marketers saw great opportunity.  Thanks to you, Mr. Gates.  The hallmark of the MS success has been that their operating systems are almost everything to everybody.  However, that is the main reason not to have the MS operating systems.  They are authored to fit everyone’s purpose without sufficient specificity.  Therefore, open source software could, in theory, overcome that issue.  It will be modified to fit specific purposes.  The MS operating systems cannot because their source codes are proprietary, therefore, unattainable.
Although it is often confused with freeware, open-source software is fundamentally different from all forms of commercial software.  In short, open-source material is software that, in addition to the executable files, comes with the source code.  In other words, it incorporates the set of instructions the developer wrote to create the program.  In most cases, both the executables and source code are available free of charge on the Internet.  Furthermore, anyone can modify and redistribute these programs.
 The implications of open source software for the future provide interest, to say the least.  No longer will school administrations be subject to unscrupulous vendors who take advantage of the situation and rob our students of all of the value of their education.  Yes, administrators will have to dedicate people to provide open source materials instead of relying on the business to keep our students best interests in mind.  Of course, this will require a radical change in our systems and the way they run.  As we all know, education is one of the last institutions to affect change due to bureaucratic attitudes.
 I had just begun to understand what Open Source was, and had begun to think of the educational possibilities when I read Bezroukov’s critique of “Open Source Software Development as a Special Type of Academic Research”, recommended by Chip on 10/8/99.  I also realize that Open Source cannot be modified to fit everyone’s needs because not everyone is capable of doing the modifications.  Now I am becoming aware of the multitude of problems that Open Source may “open up.”