Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The Muscles, Aches, and Pains of Open Source

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
People often talk about the dangers of depending on open source. This article begins by describing the risks a university takes with commercial software - "We are watching our providers fail, merge, and be acquired... Microsoft challenges us in other ways. We struggle with its licensing offerings. We struggle with the security of its applications." Fair enough, but how does a university participate in the development of open source applications, which typically involves sharing with other institutions? " Maintenance and support have neither the glamour nor the defined end points. They're not as much fun, and they last forever." Who will, asks the author, "furnish the muscles, the aches, and the pains?"

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 24, 2024 8:36 p.m.

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