External Resources

by Sebastian Rahtz on 1 February 2004 , last updated 9 September 2012

Introduction

There are, of course, many sources of information available on free and open source software. Our aim here is to draw together some of the best of these. You can use this set of resources as a starting point for further exploration of the issues surrounding free and open source software.

Please assist us by letting us know about resources that you think ought to represented here. Just send us the url and, if possible, a brief description of the content of this resource and its potential value to others. mailto:info@oss-watch.ac.uk

The sections in this document will, with your help, grow to become a thorough and comprehensive list

General Information on F/OSS

• Open Source Initiative [http://www.opensource.org/index.php]
• The Open Source Definition [http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.html]
• The Free Software Definition [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html]
• Philosophy of the GNU Project [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/]
• Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS) References [http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_refs.html]

Open source advocacy

• Calibre [http://www.calibre.ie/]
• Free Software Foundation Europe [http://www.fsfeurope.org/]
• International Open Source Network [http://www.iosn.net/]
• OFSET - Organization for Free Software in Education and Teaching [http://www.ofset.org/]
• Open Forum Europe [http://www.openforumeurope.org/]
• Netproject [http://www.netproject.com/]
• NonProfit Open Source Initiative [http://www.nosi.net/]
• Open Advantage [http://www.openadvantage.org/], a West Midlands open source solutions centre
• Association For Free Software [http://www.affs.org.uk/]
• OSSITE - SIGOSSEE, SIG Open Source Software for Education in Europe [http://www.ossite.org/]
• Open Source Observatory [http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/chapter/452]
• Open Source Consortium [http://www.opensourceconsortium.org/]
• SchoolForge-UK [http://www.schoolforge.org.uk/index.php/Main_Page]

Studies of Free and Open Source software

• Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study [http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/index.htm]

Licensing and the law

• Intellectual Property [http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/]
• Law and technology research [http://www.valimaki.org/], Mikko Välimäki
• Open Source License Law Resource Center [http://www.denniskennedy.com/resources/technology-law-central/opensourcelaw.aspx]
• An overview of open source software licenses [http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/opensource.html]
• Creative Commons [http://creativecommons.org/]
• IPR Helpdesk [http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/]

Sources of F/OSS

• BBC - OpenSource [http://www.bbc.co.uk/opensource/]
• Freshmeat.net [http://freshmeat.net/], announcements about new software releases
• SourceForge.net [http://sourceforge.net/], a repository of thousands of open source projects
• UNESCO Free Software Portal [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft/index.shtml]
• JISC National Mirror Service [http://www.mirror.ac.uk/]
• UK Mirror Service [http://www.mirrorservice.org/]
• oss4lib [http://www.oss4lib.org/], open source systems for libraries
• The OpenDisc [http://theopendisc.com], a careful selection of open source software for running under Windows
• ObjectWeb [http://www.objectweb.org/] an international consortium fostering the development of open-source middleware for cutting-edge applications: EAI, e-business, clustering, grid computing, managed services, etc.
• NASA [http://opensource.arc.nasa.gov/]

• Widely-used software:

  • Apache [http://www.apache.org/] (web server)
  • Open Source Applications Foundation [http://www.osafoundation.org/index.htm], building Chandler, a new mail/message system
  • The GIMP [http://www.gimp.org/] (image editor),
  • GNOME [http://www.gnome.org/] (desktop environment)
  • GNU Compiler Collection [http://www.fsf.org/software/gcc/gcc.html] (GCC, a suite of compilation tools for C, C++, etc)
  • KDE [http://www.kde.org/] (desktop environment)
  • Mailman [http://sourceforge.net/projects/mailman] (mailing list manager)
  • Mozilla [http://www.mozilla.org/] (web browser and email client)
  • MySQL [http://www.mysql.com/] (database)
  • OpenOffice [http://www.openoffice.org/] (office suite, including word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software)
  • PHP [http://www.php.net/] (web development)
  • Perl [http://www.perl.org/] (programming/scripting language)
  • Plone [http://plone.org/] (content management system)
  • PostgreSQL (database) [http://www.postgresql.org/]
  • Python [http://www.python.org/] (programming/scripting language)
  • Samba [http://www.samba.org/] (file and print server)
  • TeX [http://www.tug.org/] (typesetting language)
  • uPortal [http://www.uportal.org/] (portal framework)
  • XFree86 [http://www.xfree86.org/] (implementation of the X window system)
  • Zope [http://www.zope.org/] (web application server)

e-government initiatives

• A Guide to Open Source for Australian Government Agencies [http://www.sourceit.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/42065/A_Guide_to_Open_Source_Software.pdf]
• The Center of Open Source & Government - EGovOS.org [http://www.egovos.org/]
• IDA Open Source Migration Guidelines [http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/export/files/en/1618.pdf]
• programma OSOSS [http://www.ososs.nl/]

Publications

The publications below are all available online in full text and may be freely accessed.

• The Cathedral and the Bazaar [http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/]
• Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html]
• Version Control with Subversion [http://svnbook.red-bean.com/]
• Open Source Maturity Model [http://www.seriouslyopen.org/nuke/html/index.php]
• The Open Source Paradigm Shift [http://tim.oreilly.com/opensource/paradigmshift_0504.html]
• Open Source 2007: How Did This Happen? [http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0440.asp]