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An Introduction to Open Source Software, Apia, Samoa

by Marko Schütz — last modified 2006-09-22 07:49 AM

The course "An Introduction to Open Source Software" was held from 28 August -- 31 August 2006 in Apia, Samoa. Held back-to-back with PacINET 2006, this course brought together many participants from the region.

An Introduction to Open Source Software, Apia, Samoa

Dr. Marko Schütz of the Pacific Island Countries sub-node of the International Open Source Network (IOSN PIC)

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 Marko Schütz



2006-09-06 11:37 AM



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Twenty-two participants from Pacific Island Countries participated in the course "An Introduction to Open Source Software" held in Apia, Samoa by Dr. Marko Schütz of the Pacific Island Countries sub-node of the International Open Source Network (IOSN PIC) hosted by The University of the South Pacific (USP) from 28 August to 31 August 2006. Being held back-to-back with PacINET 2006 the course was attended by participants from Fiji, Japan, Kiribati, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands with backgrounds in regional organizations (SPREP; Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries), UNDP, government departments from the region (Mineral Resources Dept., Fiji; Ministry of Finance, Samoa, MLPID, Kiribati; National Provident Fund, Samoa), and the private sector (Solomon Telekom; SamoaTel; Computer Services Ltd, Samoa).

Morning and afternoon tea as well as the training venue was provided by the Secretariat of the Pacific Region Environmental Program (SPREP). The venue consisted of a training room with 16 PCs (1GHz Pentium III, 256MB Ram, CD-ROM) on which the Live-CD Knoppix version 5.0.1 was used. Additionally, some participants brought their own laptops.

The course was run as 4 days of 3 lectures each with some time for hands-on experience in the afternoon.

"I had done a course introducing, for example, the shell. Now [that I have done this course] I know why it was good for me to do that first course." - Participant

Mitsubishi Research Inc. (MRI) had authored and released the materials used in the course. The subjects covered in the course:

  1. What is Open Source Software?
    1. Why Choose Open Source Software?
    2. Process of Writing Software
    3. Open Source Software and Proprietary Software
    4. Releasing Source Code
    5. Truth and Misconceptions about Open Source
    6. OSS Technology and Career Paths
  2. OSS Application Fields and Installation of OSS
    1. OSS Application Fields
    2. Deploying Open Source Software
    3. Installing Linux
  3. Major OSS and Distributions
    1. Operating Systems
    2. Middleware
    3. Servers
    4. Desktop Environment
    5. Development Environments
    6. Major Linux Distributions
  4. Philosophy and History of Open Source Software
    1. History of Open Source Software
    2. Definition of "Open Source Software"
    3. Open Source Software Licenses
  5. OSS Development and the OSS Community
    1. Open Source Software and the OSS Community
    2. Development Structure
    3. Topics Related to OSS Development
    4. Communication
    5. OSS Developers
  6. OSS Business
    1. Reasons for Interest in OSS Business
    2. Factors Driving OSS Business
    3. Types of Systems Development Using OSS
    4. Entry of Major Vendors into OSS Business
  7. Case Studies in OSS Business
    1. Types of OSS Business
    2. Flagship Business (Major Manufacturers)
    3. System Integrators
    4. Distributors
    5. In-House OSS Business
    6. OSS Specialization
    7. Package Software Business
    8. Server Sales and Embedded Business
    9. Embedded Development Tools Business
    10. Proprietary Business Use
    11. Education Business
  8. OSS Government Policy and E-Government
    1. Reasons for OSS Promotion by National and Local Governments
    2. Trends in Europe
    3. Trends in the United States
      4. Trends in Asia
    4. Trends in National and Local Japanese Government
    5. Education and OSS
  9. Features of OSS
    1. Performance
    2. Cost
    3. Vendor Lock-In
    4. Security
    5. Educational Benefits
    6. Sustainability
  10. Issues with OSS
    1. Lack of Applications, Human Resources and Guarantees
    2. Legal Risks
    3. OSS Deployment on Desktops
    4. Diversity
    5. Standardization Trends and Localization
  11. Development Tools
    1. Program Builds
    2. Debuggers
    3. Analysis Tools
    4. Source Code Management
    5. Other Tools
  12. Maintaining Software and Development Examples
    1. Updating Software Environments
    2. Software Components
    3. System Building Example


The Samoa Information Technology Society (SITS) took care of local organization and the initial contact was provided by the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Information Society (PICISOC).

Participants praised content and delivery of the course, averaging "very good" to "excellent" and "relevant" to "extremely relevant" in these aspects. They suggested to improve the course by running it for a week or a week and a half and to use the additional time to accommodate more hands-on exercises and group discussions. Furthermore, they suggested that examples should relate more to the Pacific Island Countries and that the venue should be closer to amenities in town. Quoting one participant: "I had done a course introducing, for example, the shell. Now [that I have done this course] I know why it was good for me to do that first course."
 
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