Open Source Software

What could you do with an extra few hundred dollars? What if you didn’t have to buy or upgrade to a new expensive software package or networking system? Consider using open source software and you can use your extra money to take your favorite law librarian out to lunch—or go golfing, whichever comes first!

Open source software (OSS) refers to software that has been made available not only for (most often free) use, but with its source code—the actual computer code written by the programmers—fully intact, enabling anyone with the knowledge and desire to study, change and improve the design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software). There are hundreds of software options provided as open source software (see this list of open source software packages provided by Wikipedia for some ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages). I would like to point you to a couple of particularly popular programs for this post.

Before we get to that point, though, let me dispense with one of the myths involving OSS. There are often arguments against OSS with regard to customer support, security and reliability. In actuality, OSS programs are frequently more robust and reliable than proprietary software. If you run into a quandary, sometimes you can contact a developer directly through email. And even if one of the main developers is unavailable, many of these projects have large communities providing real-world feedback, revised code, and advice for users. As pointed out by one developer, “having such access is extremely valuable, especially if it means bypassing the "user support" droid in Bangalore who knows less than I do about the product and is reading from a script” (http://www.neilgunton.com/open_source_pros_cons/).

So, how can OSS help you? Well, the knowledge that you don’t have to be an über-geek to use most of this software is a good thing. Plus, software that has been around for a while and gained a large following is usually compatible with Windows, Macs or Linux, older and newer. OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/) is one such program. This office suite contains a free set of products that are compatible with many other office suites, including Microsoft Office: Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (graphics), and Base (database).

If you already have an office suite, you can consider another helpful OSS tool to create PDF files—PDFCreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/). PDFCreator works like a printer and creates PDFs from any Windows program.

Another very popular software program is the browser created by Mozilla called Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/). I suggest retaining Internet Explorer as there are always sites that will view better in one browser or another, especially if they haven’t been coded to standards. Still, Firefox has become so popular that even the new Internet Explorer 7 browser (currently in beta-testing - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/ie7betaredirect.mspx) has included many of the options now in Firefox (tabbed browsing, built-in search tools, integrated RSS capabilities, better printing options and more).

The above description of OSS and software suggestions are just a microscopic speck of the magnificent world of OSS. If you would like some further resources or have any questions, please feel free to contact Katie Jones (kjones2@state.wy.us – (307) 777-7509).