open source way

The creators of open source software benefit people they will never meet in person. The kindness is baked right into the product. I'm a former computer programmer, and whenever I use an open source program I have an appreciation for the hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of hours of work that went into creating the program.

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April Fools' Day is not a national holiday, so no, you don't get to stay at home and play with your Raspberry Pi or read Hacker News all day. But, you do get to the opportunity to join a community of pranksters around the globe who will invariably succeed in some knee-slapping, good humor. 

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This summer I worked as a marketing intern at Red Hat in the JBoss Middleware business unit. As you may expect, I learned a lot about marketing and middleware. But I also learned that open source is as much a culture as a software development model.  » Read more

Meet Barry Peddycord III, a PhD student in computer science at North Carolina State University. He wishes academia were more open so work like his can reach as many audiences as possible. Barry's insightful comments on articles across many opensource.com groups enhance our conversations about the open source way. You can read his thoughts on open education at his blog.

Community is very important to opensource.com. We want to continue to recognize community members who contribute to the site by doing things other than writing articles–things like rating articles and commenting on them, voting in polls, and sharing our collective work on social media. We hope you enjoy getting to know Barry. » Read more

The words unschooling and open source often make people take a step back. But if there is any mode of learning that fully embraces the philosophy of the open source way, it is unschooling. Some even use the phrase open source learning to describe unschooling. Both unschooling and open source are revolutionary concepts based on freedom of choice. They encourage us to rethink and reassess what, when, where, how, and why we learn. » Read more

What a great article in Sunday’s New York Times about East Mooresville Intermediate School.

A bunch of quotes from the article that stood out to me. First, about the program’s success: » Read more

This month, stories about people doing business the open source way have popped up in some surprising places. From an Israeli food manufacturer to the Wall St. Journal, here are some interesting news articles and blog posts on sharing, collaboration, hacking, and transparency I've read this month. » Read more

Building a broadly impactful and long-lasting nonprofit is no easy task. In addition to formulating a long-term mission, establishing community recognition, and developing ties to other organizations, traditional nonprofits must also secure regular sources of external funding. The cycle of worry is never complete, as there is the never-ending possibility that donor pockets will empty and grant opportunities will not come to fruition. Moreover, fund-raising efforts can divert substantial time from actively fulfilling the nonprofit’s mission. » Read more

Does this describe you?

You've been using open source software or contributing to open source projects for a long time. Perhaps you are in a job where you utilize open source tools regularly, or maybe you are just fooling around with them for fun or to learn new skills.

You've been known to tell (possibly true) stories that highlight how long you've been a part of the open source world (from "I remember downloading the first version of Fedora" to "I was in the room when the term open source was coined"). But, most importantly, you consider yourself an active member of one or more open source communities. » Read more