"Perhaps you have already heard about open source software and you can't quite believe that it offers a way to use software for free. Perhaps you have heard that open source is a movement espoused by men (and some women!) sporting beards and sandals. Perhaps you have simply no idea what it is and you want to find out more. Whatever your motivations, it's always a good time to start learning about free and open source software."
Although I'm not a man, sporting a beard or wearing sandals, I still felt inclined to point you all in the direction of the latest resource from OSS Watch, the open source advisory service: Open Source for Absolute Beginners. And for those of you already hungry for more advanced information, check out the OSS Watch teams top web resource picks.
In some ways this is an aside, but that 'men wearing sandals' comment of theirs is a textbook example of how not to market an idea. We're in the 21st century, computer and Internet use is nearing ubiquity in our society (and certainly in our field), and this kind of thinking should have gone the way of the dinosaur long ago. The point with open source software is definitely not that it's a community of male geeks tinkering away at widgets for other male geeks. It's software for all that provides a genuine, open, stable alternative to the sometimes costly titles that most people are aware of.
Grr!
Posted by: Ben Werdmuller | Wednesday, July 05, 2006 at 10:57