The test of truly great software is when you can get your work done using it, but you don't really think about it, and at the same time you can't live without it. A lot of FOSS is great software and this is evidenced by the fact that it's EVERYWHERE. You are probably already using it but don't even know it.
Most people reading this will have used the World Wide Web. Chances are you are either reading this from a web page or have downloaded it from the NOSI web site. Either way you've used open source software, as most web infrastructure runs on servers running Linux, and this includes the most commonly used websites, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter.
And then there are the web pages themselves. As social networking has taken over, new ways of organizing content has come into existence and web platforms need to support interaction and collaboration. Its all about content management systems that can facilitate dialogues, and many have grown from systems that support blogging and wikis, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Wikimedia. These are all FOSS.
Have you ever used Wikipedia? Well, not only does it use Wikimedia – the content itself is published under a license that's an alternative to copyright called “Creative Commons”. It's kind of like open source for content and media that makes it easy for content to be reused and modified. Needless to say, Wikipedia can exist because it utilizes this kind of license.
And then there are applications that run on your desktop. Do you use FireFox as a web-browser? Thunderbird for your email? Or Adium or Pidgin for instant messaging? These are all open source.
Many servers, including those in many big corporate offices, are running Linux. And you may also be using Linux as your desktop operating system. There are many different versions of Linux, but the most popular desktop distribution is Ubuntu – which now has over 12 million users and growing.
And because FOSS is usually very stable there are many proprietary software packages that use FOSS as a base. This includes Macintosh OS X. The operating system is built around an open source core, called Unix. Many of the programs wrapped in the Macintosh OS X operating system are open source or have an open source core, such as Safari, which uses an open source core known as webkit. The base is open source because it's stable and secure, although the user interface built on top of it is proprietary. As the OS X operating system has matured, they've continued to develop the open source core, known as Darwin (more at: http://www.apple.com/opensource/). Just to be clear though, OS X's user interface is proprietary, as are a lot of the software applications that are bundled with it, such as iTunes, Mail, and iPhoto. Along with OS X, Apple's iOS, which runs iPhones, iPods and iPads has a unix core, the same as OS X. Android's core is Linux, which is FOSS, though there is a lot of proprietary software running on top of that. And if you've bought a new TV in recent years, chances are it's running Linux – as do many other handheld devices, such as the playstation,– which has an operating system derived from Unix.
There is a rich history of nonprofit use of FOSS spanning through the last decade. Nonprofits and FOSS are old, old friends.
At about the turn of the 21st century, several pioneering nonprofit organizations started to pay more attention to open source and had some vision of how it could meet the unique needs of the sector, in the way that proprietary software couldn't. Some key nonprofit technology assistance providers, such as the LINC Project, Media Jumpstart (aka May First) and OneNW, were at the forefront of starting initiatives to use Open Source software in tech solutions they were providing to the nonprofit organizations they served. As more nonprofit assistance providers began to use open source, the NOSI emerged as an informal network.
Efforts were also made to bring together open source developers and civil society organizations working in developing and transition countries. One of the first major efforts was the Source Camps, which were initiated by Tactical Technology Collective with support from Aspiration. In the US, Aspiration began hosting Penguin Days in conjunction with the annual NTEN gathering. Tactical Tech also distributed packages of FOSS software in its "in a box" series.
NOSI published the first edition of this primer in 2005, with support from IBM, to help nonprofits to understand the benefits of using FOSS.
As these efforts have progressed we've seen the emergence of FOSS projects that have been developed specifically to meet the needs of nonprofits and civil society, these include CiviCRM, Tor, and Ushahidi, among others.
Several nonprofit technology assistance providers such as MayFirst (www.mayfirst.org) Electric Embers (www.electricembers.net) and Riseup are able to provide email and web-hosting services because of FOSS.
The fit between nonprofits and open source has worked so well that nonprofits now take on the role of supporting the development of FOSS. Among them are:
Mozilla Foundation (www.mozilla.org/foundation/), which develops Firefox and Thunderbird (among others) and promotes openness, innovation and participation on the internet.
The Free Software Foundation (www.fsf.org), promotes computer user freedoms and defends the rights of all free software users.
The Apache Software Foundation (www.apache.org), which supports the Apache community of open source software projects, which provide software products for the public good.
The Linux Foundation (www.linuxfoundation.org), which promotes, protects and advances Linux.
Open Source Matters (www.opensourcematters.org), which serves the financial and legal interests of the Joomla Project.
The Sahana Software Foundation (www.sahanafoundation.org), which provides information management solutions that enable organizations and communities to better prepare for and respond to others.
The Document Foundation (www.documentfoundation.org) which supports the development of the LibreOffice software suite and commits to eliminate the digital divide in society by giving everyone access to office productivity tools free of charge to enable them to participate as full citizens in the 21st century.
For the average user, it's likely that you've used or experienced FOSS first hand and there's probably a FOSS application that you can't live without. If you're a nonprofit, not only is it likely that you're using FOSS, but chances are FOSS is helping you to achieve your mission.
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