A carpenter’s explanation of OpenSource
Imagine that you are a shop teacher intending to teach children how to build a wooden footstool:
The shop teacher and the prefab ‘lumber’yard
You go to the lumberyard and ask for some lumber and nails. The guy at the lumber store shakes his head and says, “Sorry, we don’t got that, we only carry EasyDone or NanoHouse products. How about this beautiful prefab bathroom?” You tell him you don’t need a bathroom.
“Perhaps I can interest you in a EasyDone kitchen?” he says.
“Just wood and nails,” you say. Frustration is beginning to show in your voice.
“O.K. then you must choose between an EasyDone or NanoHouse prefab livingroom.”
“I only need wood and nails! Ten penny nails, 2X4s, plywood!”
“We don’t sell that.”
“O.K. then how much is an EasyDone bedroom, I can take it apart and use the wood and nails.”
“$40,000″
“What? That is far too expensive for my budget!”
“It’s fully integrated, painted, the carpet is in place and the bed is even included, it’s ready to go!”
“But it doesn’t do what I need. I’m only going to take it apart and we are going to use the wood in shop class.”
“Wait a minute. Did you say something about taking it apart?”
“Yes! It doesn’t do what we need so I have to take it apart so my kids can rebuild!”
“No, I can’t sell it to you for that, it’s against the law, violates the EULA. Besides, all the joints are epoxy rivet-welded together. You couldn’t possibly take it apart without turning it into sawdust.”
“But I need the raw materials for my students to build a footstools!”
“Go away. I need someone to buy my prefab bathrooms, I have some overstock.”
“Fine!” You say, “I’ll take my business elsewhere.
“There is a NanoHouse prefab garage store down the street.” he offers.
“I’m not interested! And if I ever do need a new bathroom, I’m going to build my own!”
“Oh no you don’t. NanHouse has a patent on those.”
Opensource software is a raw material which can turned on a lathe, nailed together. It can (and must!) be replicated at any stage of customization or enhancement. Therefore, it improves as it is used. If you can’t buy exactly what you want, you can build it or put together the components and configure them to meet your needs. Free software doesn’t eliminate the need for software expertise anymore than raw lumber eliminates the need for carpenters. Free and opensource software (FOSS) is a good fit for education where thousands of schools across the country have similar, but perhaps not identical needs. Ironically, many proprietary software companies have all but abandoned the educational market because of widespread piracy of proprietary software in schools.
When schools had solid federally subsidized budgets for computers, proprietary software running on proprietary operating systems installed on proprietary fat client computers (with a shelf life of little more than one semester), may have seemed a good idea. But this was never an efficient use of funds. For some schools it was the equivalent of buying a pre-fab house for the shop class to take apart and build into footstools and candle holders. Times have changed, educational money has disappeared. Such inefficiencies are now impossible to overlook. In order to give children the best chance of a bright future where they can compete in the global economy, we need find these holes where our government is throwing tax money, and fill them as quickly as possible. It is becoming obvious that to balance their budgets, governments and educational institutions must utilize opensource software and eco-efficient, future-proof, low TCO hardware wherever possible.
You go to the lumberyard and ask for some lumber and nails. The guy at the lumber store shakes his head and says, “Sorry, we don’t got that, we only carry EasyDone or NanoHouse products. How about this beautiful prefab bathroom?” You tell him you don’t need a bathroom.
“Perhaps I can interest you in a EasyDone kitchen?” he says.
“Just wood and nails,” you say. Frustration is beginning to show in your voice.
“O.K. then you must choose between an EasyDone or NanoHouse prefab livingroom.”
“I only need wood and nails! Ten penny nails, 2X4s, plywood!”
“We don’t sell that.”
“O.K. then how much is an EasyDone bedroom, I can take it apart and use the wood and nails.”
“$40,000″
“What? That is far too expensive for my budget!”
“It’s fully integrated, painted, the carpet is in place and the bed is even included, it’s ready to go!”
“But it doesn’t do what I need. I’m only going to take it apart and we are going to use the wood in shop class.”
“Wait a minute. Did you say something about taking it apart?”
“Yes! It doesn’t do what we need so I have to take it apart so my kids can rebuild!”
“No, I can’t sell it to you for that, it’s against the law, violates the EULA. Besides, all the joints are epoxy rivet-welded together. You couldn’t possibly take it apart without turning it into sawdust.”
“But I need the raw materials for my students to build a footstools!”
“Go away. I need someone to buy my prefab bathrooms, I have some overstock.”
“Fine!” You say, “I’ll take my business elsewhere.
“There is a NanoHouse prefab garage store down the street.” he offers.
“I’m not interested! And if I ever do need a new bathroom, I’m going to build my own!”
“Oh no you don’t. NanHouse has a patent on those.”
Opensource software is a raw material which can turned on a lathe, nailed together. It can (and must!) be replicated at any stage of customization or enhancement. Therefore, it improves as it is used. If you can’t buy exactly what you want, you can build it or put together the components and configure them to meet your needs. Free software doesn’t eliminate the need for software expertise anymore than raw lumber eliminates the need for carpenters. Free and opensource software (FOSS) is a good fit for education where thousands of schools across the country have similar, but perhaps not identical needs. Ironically, many proprietary software companies have all but abandoned the educational market because of widespread piracy of proprietary software in schools.
When schools had solid federally subsidized budgets for computers, proprietary software running on proprietary operating systems installed on proprietary fat client computers (with a shelf life of little more than one semester), may have seemed a good idea. But this was never an efficient use of funds. For some schools it was the equivalent of buying a pre-fab house for the shop class to take apart and build into footstools and candle holders. Times have changed, educational money has disappeared. Such inefficiencies are now impossible to overlook. In order to give children the best chance of a bright future where they can compete in the global economy, we need find these holes where our government is throwing tax money, and fill them as quickly as possible. It is becoming obvious that to balance their budgets, governments and educational institutions must utilize opensource software and eco-efficient, future-proof, low TCO hardware wherever possible.
Posted: September 10th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
Tags: education, opensource