resources
OSS Watch resources have been grouped into subject areas or categories to allow easy viewing of
pertinent resources in particular areas of interest. Our own
material has been grouped alongside external resources in each of the categories. These categories are under constant review and will be updated and expanded as
required.
categories
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strategy and policy
- University and college IT strategies need to explicitly engage with open source software.
How we work with open source software may also affect policies concerning intellectual property
rights, employment practices and more.
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open standards
- Disparate computer systems and networks cannot be made to talk to one another, or interoperate,
if they do not speak the same language. Standards are like the shared rules of a language. Open
standards bring together all interested parties to contribute to their creation and maintenance.
They are published through a standards body such as IEEE, ISO, W3C or OASIS.
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open source software development
- The open source software development model differs from the closed source or proprietary model.
Differences include the way the software is bundled or packaged and the roles played by
participants. Both models also share common issues such as security and quality.
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intellectual property rights (IPR), licensing and patents
- When software code is written, property is created. The owner of that property may license
it for use by others. Such licensing may be part of a business plan to capitalize on the
intellectual property of the software.
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building communities
- Successful open source software projects tend to develop committed communities of developers
and users. These communities can include everyone from hobbyists to professional software
writers to end users. They may form naturally or they may be significantly assisted by a large
corporation.
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examples of open source software
- There is a huge range of open source software available to download from the Internet.
We concentrate on useful tools and best-of-breed examples often found in UK colleges
and universities.
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case studies
- UK colleges and universities are developing and deploying free and open source software in
a wide variety of contexts. We highlight best practice and learning points from across
the UK.
For a complete list of all documents see the full list.
OSS Watch is funded by the