Linux, OSS, and other good stuff…
One of the simple pleasures of teaching is being able to expose people to things they might never have found on their own…or at least not as soon. This term I have experimented with Open Source in my business-level MIS course at Dominican University of California by making the evaluation of software from TheOpenCD.org CD part of the midterm, and by providing extra-credit for the documentation of Linux “exploration ” using the Knoppix CD over a five day (at least one hour per day) period. The experiment appears to be paying off, as I have consistently seen references to epiphanies in students’ work highlighting changes in the view of strategic and knowledge systems in relation to the Open Source phenomenon.
The exposure to Open Source and Linux has given rise to more questions from some of my students wishing to explore further. Coincidentally, there have been several recent articles published online providing users and business decision makers with resources for making a switch to Open Source (most specifically Linux) from other proprietary options that I will not name here. To share what I have come across, I share these links below.
Tom’s Hardware Guide began a multi-part series on the migration steps for moving to Linux late last month. The first part is here. The second part, published just this week, is here. IBM published a series of articles of its own looking at the more technical and organizational aspects of moving to Linux in an enterprise here. And if that wasn’t enough information, you can find a comprehensive list of different Linux distributions, their target markets, and general descriptions here, compliments of those fine people over atLinux.org.
Just in case you are interested, the Linux distros I currently use are:
That’s it for now.
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