My understanding of Open Source is an application that is available to anyone online that chooses to download it or use it. There are no restrictions as to who can use it or where or when you can use it. Once it is on your computer and has been downloaded, it is yours to use for however long you want. Sometimes you have to sign up to their site, network, or newsletter, but almost all applications, you don't have to pay a fee to use it. Someone owns the rights to the program and it can't be changed by anyone.
Free applications are applications that are free to use and free for anybody to change anything about the application. Wikipedia is an example because anybody can use it and anybody can change the information of the pages as well. Proprietary applications are apps that are privately owned and you have to pay to use them for a week, year, or just a one time fee. From what I have found, the open source apps are licensed under The Open Source Initiative. It is an organization that helps encourage open source software.
One of my favorite Open Source applications is called West Point Bridge and you can get it for free here . It was designed by the military to help in the creation of building bridges in the field, but its a great application to use to help my students understand the physics involved and forces used in building bridges. The students get to create bridges on the computer with all kinds of sizes, shapes, materials, and lengths to see if it will hold a load. Another OS application is a Google App called Google Sketch Up. Its an application that allows the student to draw 3D images similar to draw on the computer like AutoCAD. I like to have the students try to draw their project on the computer that they plan to build, and compare it when they have built it. You can find it here and get it free.
Your lesson you do with your students is so great. I never really knew what OpenSource was before and now that I do, it is really cool and am excited to learn more about it. How awesome for your students to be able to go online and build bridges. I knew some fifth graders who build bridges with toothpicks this year, maybe I will have to give their teachers this site. It would be a great project to have them build the bridge online and then build it in physical form. Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteGreat first post! My one comment is on the free. While it doesn't require money, free apps doesn't mean one can freely change the application. Example MSN chat. You can download the application free but you can't alter it... at least legally. That's why Open Source came about so that you can do all that although not all Open Source are free. Some companies charge. You can still alter it and do whatever, example, different brands of Linux.
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