OSS: A significant force in the 21st century

While many people today are familiar with computer applications, most casual computer users may not have heard of Open Source Software (OSS).

Most of the software applications running computers today are proprietary products sold by companies for profit. However, albeit not widely known outside the highly technical users, OSS has provided either free or low-cost alternative to the proprietary software in the past decade.

In fact, in his book entitled The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman has identified the Open Source technology as one of the ten most significant forces in the 21st Century. Recently, major companies have also made significant investments in the technology.

“Open Source is an idea that software can be used, modified, copied or distributed,” said Brian Koontz, North Lake’s computer science coordinator. “And there’s a guaranteed right that once you own a license, someone can’t take it away from you.”

Through North Lake, Koontz has created and established the first and only state-approved Computer Information Technology in Open Source Certificate program in Texas. Only a handful of other universities have similar programs.

“At North Lake College we value innovation and agility,” said President Dr. Linda Glasscock. “The development of the Open Source Certificate exemplifies this value. It means that we are on the cutting edge. It means that we are being responsive to intellectual and technological developments that affect the way people learn and do business.”

The main focus of the certificate program is to provide students with a solid foundation in the OSS principles. The program takes the students in step-by-step process from initial analysis to design development and actual implementation of the software.

However, Koontz said the program is not strictly a technical program since it addresses many non-technical issues that have cultural, ethical and legal implications.
“Culturally, they now shoulder some of the responsibilities for technical support, rather than relying exclusively upon a vendor,” said Koontz, as he referred to those who choose to adopt an OSS solution.

Koontz said that since OSS is a community-developed application, usually there is no outright cost to the users. Ethically, it questions the way they can pay back to the community. From a legal standpoint, it raises the issue of the intellectual property protection when bringing OSS into the mix.

Even though the certificate program was only approved in November 2005, four Open Source courses for the internet — Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, also known by their LAMP acronym — have been offered at North Lake since spring 2005.

“I’ve taken the liberty of drawing from my experiences with various projects to put together a series of courses I believe every developer should have exposure to,” said Koontz.
Yet, the program cuts across the cross section of students from different backgrounds.

The student profile in a typical classroom varies from typical technical managers and developers who want to incorporate OSS into their company environment to people sharing the common interests in the OSS technology to first-time students with no technical backgrounds.

North Lake’s Dean of Business and Information Technology Dr. Clarence Ates, said that as time goes by, people are becoming more interested in the OSS, adding, “The concept is relatively new in terms of being used across the board, but the word is getting out.”

The OSS courses are immersive, hands-on, lab-based, project-oriented and case study-driven to provide the students with real-world experience. But the ultimate goal has the student career opportunities in mind.

“As more companies come on board with OSS, those who have had the foresight to pick up OSS skills along the way will be in a prime position to take advantage of OSS job opportunities,” Koontz said.

“I want North Lake College to be the center of excellence for OSS. We’re leading the wagons down a lightly-trodden trail that few educational institutions have traveled.”