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What is Open Source
Software?
Open source is a program where
the software source code is
available to the general public
for use and/or modification,
free of charge. So in basic
terms we are talking about
software with no up-front
licence fees.
Open source software
has become main stream in a number of
areas. Applications such as the Firefox
Web browser, Apache Web server, Linux
operating system, MySQL database
platform, and PHP programming language
continue to gain popularity globally.
Most importantly, these applications
often equal and can surpass the quality
of well-known commercial, proprietary
software.
Open source software is making important
inroads into the world of online
learning and collaboration, including:
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Learning
management systems (LMS)
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Learning
content management systems (LCMS)
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Course
authoring tools
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Tools
to create media elements such as
animations, audio, and video clips
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Browsers
and players to present content
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Courseware
libraries
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