Opensource

=FOSS is free= Many FOSS (Free Open Source Software) applications are available for students to legally download, install and use at home. =Free to contribute and change= For now, Open Office seems to be the only way that Cambodian students can handle the issues of authoring in both [|Open Document format] and their [|Khmer language]. To date they have been continually frustrated that they cannot easily type in their native language without clunky patches or hacks.

The [|Khmer OpenOffice] development team has a vision of a country where Cambodians can learn and use computers in their own language. A country should not have to change to a new language in order to use a computer.

Just as Wikis have demonstrated that 1000 gifted amateurs can beat one professional, the open source movement has demonstrated that a large number of amateurs can produce software that is the equal of commercial software. =Collaboration based on Open Standards= The OpenDocument Format OASIS standard currently enables users of varying office suites to exchange documents freely with each another. On April 2006, the OpenDocument format was [|approved for release as an ISO and IEC International Standard].

Organizations and individuals that use the Open Document format to store their data also avoid being locked in to a single software vendor. The new standard will greatly facilitate document content access, usage and integration. The [|Xtech 2006 conference speakers area] has asked deligates to submit their papers using the OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Word templates provided.

//"If you use the Open Internet, you can use the OpenDocument. Today. No upgrades. No strategy sessions about whether or not to pay Microsoft forever or get off the Redmond treadmill now. It's an easy decision. Open Internet, Open Standards, Open XML. The world is just a download away from taking that first step into collaborative computing. A step that's a leap far into future."// [|ZDNet response article]

The Magic Cauldron, Eric Raymond, [|http://www.catb.org/%7Eesr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/magic-cauldron/]
 * Reference**:

Paul Graham, What Business Can Learn from Open Source http://paulgraham.com/opensource.html

debates about wikipedia