Top 10 things you need to know and 1 you need to do

Ten things you didn't know about open source

By James Archibald

20 April, 2007

1. Open Source predates proprietary software.

2. Apache kept the Web flat and free

3. Open SSL kept cryptography available to everyone

4. Open Source helped free the human genome

5. Microsoft loves open source

6. Altruism is not the only reason why people contribute to open source software

6. Online communities can actually get things done

7. The most important freedom: the right to for

9. Open source can still change the world

10. Open source needs your help (whoever you are)

One doesn't have to be a programmer to be able to help out on open source projects. To begin you can help by just trying it out. Recommended programs that can be run off a Windows system include the Open Office office suite and the Firefox Web browser. There are a number of "live" CD distributions of Linux that can be tried out without affecting your CD, such as Ubuntu. Open source development happens through forums and participation in a forum can help. If you encounter a bu in an open source application, reporting it can also be helpful to the developers. Another way for bilingual non-programmers to help is in translating the text of the program.