In this example, using FOSS can save you over US$2100 US-Dollars. This does not include costs for future upgrades and updates. Closed source software is closed, i.e., not open for review. Examples of some software in wide use include software used to operate ATMs electronic voting machines medical equipment It is designed to remain part of a corporation's proprietary assets. Proprietary software is restricted. You cannot use it for any purpose you like, restrictions are placed on usage and conditions are imposed on location and environment. FOSS is not without issues, either. Currently, it is more difficult to generate revenue with FOSS. More and more and alternative business models are developing to generate revenue usually in some service-oriented way. There is often no single corporation that manages and/or coordinates software development. This can make it difficult for contributors to stay focused and on schedule for new releases. Since historically FOSS was developed by developers for developers more emphasis was placed on functionality than on ease of use or user interface. This may still hold true for many FOSS packages, but not for others, for example, the Firefox web browser is a good example of a FOSS package that is easy to install and easy to use. Since proprietary software packages often do not use open standards it is difficult to reverse engineer file formats in order to offer completely compatible file imports and exports. Another example of this are macros or other proprietary languages used as part of a proprietary file format. Depending on user demand there may be more or less formal support and/or training available for purchase. Why is FOSS important? On to the next topic in today's presentation: Why is FOSS important? No single vendor control or lock-in No risk of being “orphaned” Often runs on older/slower hardware Efficient knowledge/resource sharing through collaboration Software is available in more languages No intellectual property restrictions (per the Software Freedom Law Center [SFLC]) Available for different platforms, operating systems FOSS can alleviate some major problems associated with proprietary software one of which is the dependence on a software vendor's decision regarding pricing, licensing, support, etc. With FOSS you are no longer locked into a vendor's decisions or risk being orphaned in case the vendor decides to abandon development. [] Examples Now we are going to explore some FOSS you may already be using in your daily computing environment. The first example we're going to look at is the Linux operating system, recognized by its mascot, the penguin: Linux is based on the GNU project; in case you're wondering, GNU is a recursive acronym and stands for GNU Not Unix. Linux got its name from its creator, Linus Torvalds, who created Linux while attending the University of Helsinki in Finland. Its strengths are interoperability, portability, and a great community of developers. As a result, the Linux operating system is installed in about 75 percent of the top 500 supercomputers, 16 percent of smart phones, 25 percent of servers, and 2.8 percent of desktops. The world's largest search engine company Google is probably also the world's largest Linux installation. Linux comes in many varieties and runs by names like Suse, Fedora, Ubuntu and many others. For information on the various Linux distributions see [], [] where you can find information and ratings on the popular Debian, Knoppix which can be booted off a CD, SuSE, Mandriva, Damn Small Linux for bootable installations with limited install space of only 50MB, Linspire, formerly known as Lindows until forced to change its name after some legal wranglings, and Ubuntu, dubbed the “Linux for Human Beings”. Our next example is the popular web browser Firefox, developed under the auspices of the Mozilla Foundation. You have probably encountered its logo somewhere surfing the web. Firefox is the second most popular web browser after Internet Explorer. It is extendable, cross-platform compatible and runs on Windows, the Mac, and Linux. It has been downloaded 300 million times and its market share as of this writing stands at about 15 percent. The web server that makes web browsing possible in 60 percent of all cases is the Apache web server, an open source project by the Apache Software Foundation. This popular web server runs on Windows, Mac and Linux and enjoys a market share of 60 percent. Thanks to among other things its extendability it has been the market leading web server since 1996). Besides the web browser, the program or rather program suite people use most is probably an office suite with word processing, spreadsheet, and maybe a simple drawing or database program. In the FOSS space, this functionality is covered well by the OpenOffice.org office suite. OpenOffice.org has been downloaded 62.5 million times and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The suite includes Writer, a wordprocessing program Calc, a spreadsheet program Impress, a presentation program Draw, a drawing program Base, a database program Through efforts by the translator community it has been made available in more than 45 localizations and boasts more than 95 percent compatibility with Microsoft Office other than for macros. For those cases where the program you want to run is available only for Windows you can run an emulation program which emulates the operating system layer, but runs under an operating system different from the one it emulates. One such example is WINE. Its name is a recursive acronym for WINE Is Not an Emulator, and it runs on Mac, Linux, Solaris. This emulator allows for running Windows programs without Windows. For example, you can run Microsoft Excel under WINE which runs under Ubuntu Linux. If you're looking for an open source program to handle your finances you need to look no further than GnuCash. This double-entry book-keeping personal finance system can import Quicken files and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. If you are looking for a powerful open source graphics editor that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux you will find that GIMP fulfills all your needs and more. GIMP can import and export Photoshop files as well as many others. It features layers, channels, paths, transparency and many other features fit for professional use. Scribus If you have a need for an open source desktop publishing solution that lets you create fliers and brochures and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux then Scribus can fill this need. Its features range from professional CMYK and ICC color management to compatibility with major graphics formats. It can even import text from ODF, RTF, DOC and HTML documents. The most popular open source solution for translation is OmegaT. This capable program runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. It can do fuzzy matching, match propagation, allows for simultaneous use of multiple translation memories, external glossaries, and can be used with non-Latin alphabets. Furthermore, OmegaT can handle source and target languages with different character sets and is compatible with TMs from market leading integrated translation environments. In addition, one of its great strengths is its active online user community. Released under a FOSS license by Enlaso in October, 2005, the Okapi Framework provides an environment to build inter-operable tools for the different steps of the translation and localization process. Developed mostly for developers it comprises functions such as translation memory creation, a management interface and an XLIFF converter. Another entry in the category of translation tools is ForeignDesk. This application was the in-house translation tool in use by what is now the largest translation services firm in the world, LionBridge, until they released it to the public under a BSD FOSS license in 2002. It runs under Windows and can make use of customized XML filters. One of its strengths is the display of fuzzy matches which are displayed instantaneously. One of the entries in the category of XLIFF-compatible translation tools for Windows, Mac and Linux is Transolution. This translation tools suite is modular and offers added flexibility by providing an XLIFF Editor, a translation memory engine and filters to convert different formats to and from XLIFF. The use of XLIFF means that almost any content can be localized as long as there is a filter for it. Currently, it can handle XML, SGML, PO, RTF, ODF, HTML and DocBook. The second contender in the XLIFF category are the Open Language Tools by Sun Microsystems which can run on Windows, Mac and Linux. The included set of XLIFF file-filters comprises filters for a number of documentation and software file formats, including HTML/XHTML, XML, DocBook SGML, ASCII, ODF, .po (gettext), .properties, .java (ResourceBundle), .msg/.tmsg (catgets). [] The last entry in the category of computer-assisted translation tools is Pootle. Pootle is an acronym for PO-based Online Translation / Localization Engine. Pootle runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and some of its features include translation memory, glossary management and matching, goal creation and user management. It allows online translation with the assignment of work to various translators and can operate as a management system where translators translate using an offline tool and use Pootle to manage the workflow of the translation. The only entry in the category of open source machine translation tools is Apertium. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Among the goals of the project are spreading the use of the language, increasing literacy, contributing to standardization, and increasing visibility. Mikel L. Forcada, "Open-source machine translation: an opportunity for minor languages", in Strategies for developing machine translation for minority languages (5th SALTMIL workshop on Minority Languages) (organized in conjunction with LREC 2006 (22-28.05.2006)) Summary If you are looking for an open source program to fill your needs chances are you will find a solution. Here are a few more steps to get you going: 1)Start using FOSS by trying out one of the above mentioned applications. 2)Get OpenOffice []. 3)Check out the translation tools on Martin Wunderlich's page at []. 4)Sign up for the Open Source Update at []. 5) Use Linux for Translators []. 6)Subscribe to The Tool Kit for translators: []. 7)Have a look at Hands on Open Source at []. 8)Subscribe to TUX magazine: www.tuxmagazine.com>]. References 1.Sam Hiser, “Achieving Openness”, [] 2.Japan Becomes First Asian Nation To Embrace Open Software Standards, [] 3.Open Source Barometer, [] Copyright ProZ.com, 1999-2006. All rights reserved. |