On August 28, 2004, Software Freedom Day will celebrate Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and encourages its widespread use. SFD will set up stations in public places to give away informational fliers and CDs with selected FOSS, including TheOpenCD and a Linux Live CD.
There are thousands of active FOSS projects on the net. Below is a list of some of the major projects and resources that you might want to check out first.
OpenOffice.org is a free productivity suite compatible with all major office suites. The system includes word processing, spreadsheet, vector drawing and a presentation maker. Noteable features include direct PDF and Flash export. Compare Office 2003 vs. OpenOffice.Org.
The Mozilla project is best known for its excellent web browser and e-mail programs, but also houses a variety of other projects.
TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image creation/manipulation.
GNUWin II is a similar project to TheOpenCD, but contains a much larger selection of software, from games to server applications and programming languages. If you are ready to get up to your elbows in Free Software, then GNUWin II is a good place to start.
There is a large variety of Linux distributions available, to suit a variety of needs. We will not list them all here, but rather refer you to DistroWatch which is a comprehensive listing of Linux distributions, each with a feature list and a package comparison table.
Knoppix is a CD-bootable Linux operating system, which means that you can try it on your PC without installing anything on your hard drive. It runs the K-Desktop Environment (KDE) by default, but also includes the GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) and several others, for the more adventurous user, and has many of the same applications found on TheOpenCD, such as AbiWord, The GIMP, and OpenOffice.org.
The GNU project has produced a majority of the Unix-like tools that together with the Linux kernel makes up the GNU/Linux operating system. The GNU project is principally sponsored by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which is also responsible for the General Public License.
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to managing and promoting the Open Source Definition for the good of the community. It hosts the OSI Certified Open Source Software certification program, which certifies projects that meet the criteria of the Open Source Definition. TheOpenCD project requires that programs we include uses an OSI approved license.
With free operating systems you have a choice of which graphical user interface you want to use. The most common are the feature-rich K-Desktop Environment (KDE) and GNOME, but there are also more light weight options such as XFCE, IceWM AfterStep, Fluxbox, and others.
There are also other free resources in the community, such as Wikipedia which is a free online encyclopedia that runs on Free wiki Software. Established in January 2001, it now as over 600.000 articles in 50 languages. This project can be a good introduction to open development.
The above list is but a small fraction of the Open Source and Free Software projects available on the ‘Net, and is merely intended as a starting point. A much larger list of FOSS projects can be found here.
Get a “free” computer at FreeGeek. Volunteer 24 hours of your time recycling computers, clearing the hard drive and stripping off proprietary operating systems. Your free Linux machine could run any of the software you see above. 
HP’s Linux-powered NX5000 Laptop (left), comes with a 1.4 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB ram, DVD/CD RW drive, 802.11b WiFi, SD slot and a 15-inch XGA screen for less than $1,200. NBC Television likes theirs - it didn’t crash once.
A library could buy 20 HP laptops and check them out for use inside (or outside) the building.
Add ten $100 Linksys Access Points with embedded NoCat or install deluxe, dual-mode enterprise-class Access Points with free 802.1x security.
Checkout free 802.16e cards for the city cloud - just like in Florida.
Om Malik says the local loop business is doomed while Comcast will do most anything to preserve their monopoly.
But here’s the thing; the community is the content. The emerging marriage between BitTorrent for media downloads and RSS for notification shows the way. Blog Torrent is said to seamlessly and easily allow end users to download files from Bit Torrent. Libraries that are storehouses for publishers and big media must evolve or die. A rack of Apple Xserves might deliver global multi-player gaming - and millions in revenue.
Who’s bridging the digital divide? Not my library.
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