Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  FLOSS away (13 Apr 2005) Overall, as an introductory session to FLOSS, it was interesting to note that a field which was led by what Bacon described as a 'bearded' fraternity of individual maverick thinkers and programmers, has become one of the most hotly contested areas of debate within education and the technology industry. Thankfully the mavericks have not disappeared; however, as the field grows there is a greater call for standardisation and consensus. Added to which the issue of interoperability is paramount. FLOSS provides a real and viable alternative to an educational market that is currently dominated by computing companies, who fail to provide users with greater levels of control and flexibility over their operating systems. In addition, although it is clear that the way forward is one in which both proprietary and open source software co-exist, how such a model would work practically and be sustained at all levels of the educational sector is still a major question. Article URL: http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/art48.htm Read 122 more articles from NESTA Futurelab sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Media: Wharton on the Future of Blogging     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy