Tools and utilities in free software | Search for a title, author or keyword | ||||||||
Tools and utilities in free software Tools and utilities in free software, By Jesús Corrius i Llavina, The Free Technology Academy ( FTA ), 2010. The term free software refers not only to software that enables users to freely run programs but also to that which allows source code access, adaptation of the latter to user needs, distribution of copies of the software to others and the publication of new versions of this software. When we talk about free software, we often think of applications in text mode that are run on servers, but the movement also offers a wide range of utilities for the average desktop user. This tools and utilities course will introduce students to some of the programs designed for the desktop environments of end users: Firefox ( a very fast, lightweight, powerful and flexible Internet browser ), Novell Evolution ( an e-mail manager, managing information and group work, very similar in appearance to the popular Microsoft Outlook ), OpenOffice. The OpenOffice.org suite, born of the project of the same name created by the US company Sun Microsystems, represents one of the biggest free software advances of recent years. To be able to compete face-to-face with other business solutions and platforms, it is essential to have a tool that can boast the same features as the competition. Nowadays, we cannot imagine a production environment without the ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite with its Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint. OpenOffice is an alternative that we really need to start taking seriously. There are two versions of the program: OpenOffice.org, which is the free software version with a dual LGPL licence ( GNU Lesser General Public License ) and SISSL ( Sun Industry Standards Source License ) and a proprietary version called StarOffice, produced by Sun Microsystems from the original OpenOffice.org code but with a number of improvements, such as support, filters and commercial spellcheckers, templates etc. OpenOffice.org is composed by: Open Writer ( a word processor, similar to Microsoft Word ), Open Calc ( a spreadsheet application, similar to Microsoft Excel ), Open Impress ( a presentations tool, similar to Microsoft Power Point ), Open Draw ( a drawing tool ), a Database. Some words about The Free Technology Academy ( FTA ). The Free Technology Academy ( FTA ), financially supported by the Life Long Learning programme ( LLP ) of the European Commission, is a collaboration between the FKI ( The Free Knowledge Institute, Netherlands ) and three European universities: Open Universiteit - The Netherlands, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya ( UOC ) - Spain, University of Agder ( UiA ) - Norway. The FTA Consortium partners aim to accelerate the adoption of Free Software and Free Knowledge by working on strategic projects like the FTA, the international SELF Project, and other initiatives. They collaborate with parties to set up a solid ecosystem for the production of free educational materials. With these projects, the FTA Consortium partners are among the innovators of the knowledge society.
|
|||||||||
Tools and utilities in free software | Disclaimer: this link points to content provided by other sites. |