Utilizing OSS in Schools of Hong Kong

Joey ChanJuly 10, 2004.

Utilizing OSS in Schools of HK

What Is Open Source? Administrative Issues Educational Issues Research Findings Conclusions & Recommendations Major References

What Is Open Source?

In the 80’s, programmers in the “hacker” community liked to compete their skills

A programmer distributed his/her own program with its codes on Internet

Interested users read the codes and made improvement (occupies less memory, runs faster, etc.)

They also fixed bugs and added new functions

Everybody in the process could enjoy the result of this cooperation

What Is the Difference?

Proprietary Software Conventional software with source

codes closed as secret Freeware & Shareware

Can be obtained freely, but not with source codes

Open Source Software Source codes are freely available

What Is the Difference?

Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:1. Free Redistribution2. Source Code3. Derived Works4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor7. Distribution of License8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software10.License Must Be Technology-Neutral

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

What Is the Point? Open source is an innovative

method for developing reliable software (Eric Raymond, 2001)

The availability of source codes lets people from all over the globe participate in the process of debugging and improving software (Richard Stallman, 1998)

Open source represents the recognition of social cooperation in the information age (Steven Weber, 2003)

Administrative Issues

Budget Challenge Flexibility in Control Opening the Quality of Software Total Cost of Ownership

Application Proprietary Alternative Cost

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Pro $780

Office Suite Microsoft Office XP Pro $1,380

Anti-Virus Norton Anti-Virus 2004 $295

Graphics CorelDraw 11 $1,050

Photo Editor Photoshop 7.0 $2,190

Video Editing Adobe Premiere 7.0 Pro $1,780

Development Tool Microsoft Visual FoxPro 8 $900

Total $8,375

Proprietary Software Price List

Proprietary Software Price List

Application OSS Alternative Cost

Operating System Fedora Linux Core 1 $ 0

Office Suite OpenOffice.org 1.1 $ 0

Anti-Virus Clam AntiVirus 0.7 $ 0

Graphics GIMP 2.0 $ 0

Photo Editor GIMP 2.0 $ 0

Video Editing JahShaka 1.9 $ 0

Development Tool MySQL 4.0 $ 0

Total $ 0

Budget Challenge

OS + Office Suite + Anti-Virus Primary School

$2,455 x 91 computers = $223,405

Secondary School $2,455 x 247 computers =

$606,385 Technology Upgrading Hardware Lifespan

Schools may develop a thinner version of Linux, like the K12LTSP, running on the obsolete computers

Flexibility in Control

Adoption and Adaptation Not an “all or nothing” selection OSS application on proprietary OS Proprietary client connects OSS server

License Management Storage of license Inventory control and audit Legal trap for administrators

Scalability No software purchase red tape No CAL needed

Quality of Software

Reliability Large firms and governments are

investing in OSS Market shares are increasing

Security Less attacks and fewer viruses Bugs are transparent High configurability may cause problem

Usability Used to focus on power & function, not

usability

Total Cost of Ownership

Introduced by IT Research Agent, Gartner 15 years ago, TCO is a concept of considering “all costs associated with computing when making management decisions about computer acquisitions, upgrades, support, and administration”

Total Cost of Ownership

“Taking TCO to the Classroom” helping school leaders in understanding

the long-term costs involved in constructing and operating a network of computers

Checklist includes six elements: 1. Retrofitting 2. Connectivity 3. Software 4. Replacement5. Professional Development6. Support

Total Cost of Ownership Professional Development

Teachers may be gridlocked into old patterns and perceptions (McKenzie, 1991)

Opportunity to restructure the previous software specific, technique based training course for teachers

Support Because of the lack of qualified

personnel, the cost of technical support can be greater for open source

Open source, open support source

Educational Issues

Knowledge Sharing

Dynamics and Innovation

Information Literacy

Knowledge Sharing

OSS demonstrates that Internet opens the pool of collaborators to the world

Programmers around the world are building knowledge products with collaboration, and the result is significant

OSS guarantees the freedom for the public to study how software works, to adjust for individual needs, to redistribute copies to others, and to improve it and share the improvement to benefit others (Stallman, 1996)

Dynamics and Innovation

Schools must not bind itself with single off-the-shelf proprietary software and let students explore the infinite possibility of OSS (Moyle, 2003)

The opened source codes have established a user innovation network to counter problems (Drakos, 2002)

OSS demonstrated “the viability of a massively distributed innovation system that stretches the boundaries of conventional notions” (Weber, 2003)

Information Literacy

Helping to solve digital divide (Dravis, 2003) OSS facilitates students to question both with

in and outside the boundaries imposed through the use of closed source code systems (Moyle, 2003)

Application-specific training provides little opportunity for students to apply their IT skills solving the real-life problem (Perez & Uline, 2003)

OSS has given a significant advantage to educators and students to understand the details (Pfaffenberger, 2000)

Research Stages

Acquire OSS opinions from computer users in school

Observe the utilization of an OSS based staff intranet server in school

Record the experience on the OSS desktop system setup and usage

Research Findings (1) Common Believes

The majority of computer users has little understanding and has misconceptions on OSS

They usually believe that the lower cost of OSS may eventually exchange the quality of the software

Participants also concern that the change in software will affect their efforts on existing files

Most of them prefer not to change from familiar software existing in their work place

Research Findings (2)

OSS Based Staff Intranet

Some successful OSS utilization ingredients are identified: Technology transparent (no bias) Strong professional IT support team Soft launch with patience Availability of training Deliver new functions with technology

(not just a change of current habit)

Research Findings (3) Desktop Trial

Not quite like the used Microsoft language Need time to find operating procedures Some common proprietary software has

not yet had any OSS alternative File format conversion has problem Some desktop peripherals and website

support only Microsoft products The acceptance of pirated software is

higher than OSS OSS tends to yield its users to have better

understanding on computer operation

Conclusions - Pros

Lower software acquisition / upgrade cost Keeping latest software in school Prolonging lifespan of hardware Greater flexibility and scalability Easier software inventory control Can be partially adopted Solving digital divide among students Real-life sample of collaborative learning

and knowledge sharing Promoting innovation Advancing information literacy

Conclusions - Cons

Not easy to configure Lower usability Requiring extra training for staff Higher support and maintenance costs Low acceptance from computer user Lower software availability, e.g. FrontPage

alternative Lower peripherals / website support Need patience to adapt and adopt

Recommendations

School must have more than one technical personnel who are familiar with the operation of OSS

The OSS adoption may be started with new file servers, the Internet server, or Intranet server providing new services to users

Rush or hustle often results reluctance Partial utilization does no harm, and the

school can still benefit from OSS

Opportunities for Teachers

Utilize donated computers with Linux operating system and other OSS applications as information stations

Building new school intranet server with hands-on OSS like phpBB and Open WebMail

Sharing software with students Looking for software with no budget?

http://sourceforge.net/search/ http://www.schoolforge.net/software.php

Major References

Birk, J., Horluck, J., Jorgensen, N. & Pedersen, M. K. (2003). Open-Source Software in Digital Management in the Public Sector (Sun Microsystems, Trans.). Retrieved December 27, 2003 from http://wwws.sun.com/software/whitepapers/staroffice/Open_Source_050803_v4.pdf (Original work published 2002)

Fink, M. (2003). The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.

Moyle, K. (2003). Open Source Software and Australian School Education, An Introduction. Australia: @education.au limited. Retrieved December 27, 2003 from http://www.educationau.edu.au/papers/open_source.pdf

Dravis, P. (2003). Open Source Software, Perspectives for Development. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group. Retrieved December 27, 2003 from http://www.infodev.org/symp2003/publications/OpenSourceSoftware.pdf

Major References

Raymond, E. S. (2001). The Cathedral & The Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly. http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_3/raymond/

Stallman, R. (1994). Why Software Should Not Have Owners. Retrieved October 1, 2003 from http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html

Weber, S. (2003b). The Success of Open Source. Retrieved

December 27, 2003 from http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/people/SWChapter%201final.pdf