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Friday, May 4, 2007

Starting the Open Source Journey

"The journey to thousand miles begin with a single step" aptly suggests how to make a transition to open source. The most critical step is to move out of our comfort zone and start experimenting by being creative and innovative. As is said "Technology is a good slave but a bad master" so one should not let technology overtake us. Open Source is not about a category of softwares/ tools but more of a philosophy. Adhering to the open source philosophy is about opening one's mind to change and contributing towards bringing about that change. Nothing gives one more satisfaction than feeling and being a part of the community involved in providing one with freedom and choice fo fulfill our requirements. The roles may differ for those adhering to open source but the purpose and mission is the same and i.e. to empower the user with the freedom to localise, customise and contextualise.Starting to using open source is as easy as starting to read a new book. You just need to open it and there is is, ready to be used. Learning to use any technology requires an open mind, positive attitude and a willingness to experiment. All this leads to opening new windows of learning, contributing and owning the software.

1 comment:

Ramneek Kaur said...

I also find open source softwares /tools very useful.I think,there are lots of proprietry softwares available which we are using because we are provided with them,but at the same time there is a rigidity factor also which is like an adhesive attached with all of them. There is a very less scope of creativity involved, new ideas to explore and investigate. I find them very boring to use. On the other hand,open source softwares brings with them a lot of challenge, new ideas to explore and investigate and a lot of fun and satisfaction.