Pedagogues should Pay Attention to Open Source Software

1
Pedagogues shouldPay Attention to Open Source
Software

• Keith Miller
• Computer Science
• University of Illinois-Springfield

2
Reasons to Pay Attention

• Open Source Software (OSS) is cheap.
• OSS lets you look at the source code.
• OSS offers an alternative to traditional
  commercial software.
• The alternative is potentially important
  technically.
• The alternative is ethically interesting

3
Encourage Students to Explore the Claims

• Is OSS more reliable than traditional commercial
  software, as OSS advocates claim?
• Is OSS less reliable than traditional commercial
  software, as commercial software developers
  claim?
• What can students learn from both competing
  models?

4
Ethical Questions about OSS and Commercial
Software

• Software cost and the digital divide
• Programmer motivations
• Intellectual property rights
• Success does not always prove that something is
  good but failure doesnt either.
• OSS and utilitarians Kant and professional
  responsibility

5
Using Analogies to Explore OSS and Commercial
Software

• Open Source Software is to Commercial Software
  as
• Linux is to Windows
• Richard Stallman is to Bill Gates
• the merchant marine is to the US Navy
• Mom Pop stores are to Safeway
• Boy Scouts are to Outward Bound
• Salvation Army is to Federal Welfare

6
Audience Participation Analogies

• Open Source Software is to Commercial Software
  as
• HTML is to ________________
• YMCA soccer is to ______________
• __________ is to network TV
• __________ is to a for-profit hospital
• All volunteer army is to ____________
• ______________ is to ____________