Re: NOSI releases "Open Source Primer" for Nonprofits

At 3:05 PM -0500 2/19/04, Mark Bucciarelli wrote:
>On Tuesday 17 February 2004 11:53 am, Katrin Verclas wrote:
>
>>  NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative, announces the
>>  release of its new guide "Choosing and Using Open Source
>>  Software: A Primer for Nonprofits."  It is available for
>>  download at http://www.nosi.net
>
>Did anyone else read this?  I read it quickly, and I didn't see a single
>mention of software freedom.
>
>Saw RMS speak on Tuesday night, and he said he thinks that people who coined
>the term "open source" have succeeded in turning the discussion away from the
>philosophical and ethical concerns that led to GNU and the FSF.  Based on
>what I saw in this publication, he is certainly correct.

As the major author of the primer, I thought I'd chime in. Like 
others, I don't want to start an open source vs free software flame 
war. But you should understand my perspective so that you have a 
better idea of why we used the approach we do in this primer.

There is a section on the distinction between the terms free software 
and open source, and I even mentioned the valuable contributions of 
RMS.

I've worked for close to 10 years helping nonprofit organizations (in 
the US) with technology issues. I've spent almost that much time 
(first npo linux install: 1995) helping them adopt open source 
software. And I have come to have a rather pragmatic view of the use 
of FLOSS, F/OSS, whatever, in that sector. There are a number of 
issues here.

1) The philosophical issues are mostly lost on people who are 
spending as much time as they possibly can on trying to carry out the 
mission of their organization (I've primarily worked with human 
service and women's rights organizations). There are a number of 
sectors (alternative media and environmental groups, for sure) that 
grok the concepts, and choose their technology solutions with that 
understanding, but most just want to make their jobs feeding people, 
taking care of the homeless, or protecting women's rights easier. And 
that's my job: find them the most robust, cost-effective and 
long-term sustainable technology solutions available.

2) The word "free". Everyone on this list knows the distinction 
between the two forms of free. 98% of the non-techies (and probably 
90% of the techies) in the nonprofit sector ONLY think about beer, 
and try to explain what free software is besides without cost is a 
challenging task (which we try to address in this primer).

3) Like many political movements (I do see this as part of a larger 
political/philosophical movement about  intellectual property and the 
collective ownership of innovation), it takes both purists on the 
radical side, and pragmatists who help move people to make 
constructive change. And I think that the slow adoption of open 
source software in the nonprofit sector, and the increasing awareness 
of why it's important, and why they should want to use F/OSS, besides 
just that it's better and costs less, is only going to move things in 
a better direction, can't make it worse than it already is.
-- 
.Michelle

--------------------------
Michelle Murrain
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