Free and open source software as a public good: Implications for education
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Available Online at http://iassr.org/journal European
2014 (c) EJRE published by
International Association of Social Science Research - IASSR Journal
of
ISSN: 2147-6284
Research
on
European Journal of Research on Education, 2014, 2(Special Issue), 158-165 Education
DOI: 10.15527/ejre.201426572
Free and open source software as a public
*
good: Implications for
education
M. Oğuz Arslan†
Associate Prof., Anadolu University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Eskişehir, Turkey
Abstract
In the present world of computer and Internet, free and open source software (FOSS) phenomenon has been attracting much more
attention in spite of the hegemony of the vendors of the (proprietary) software industry. In this context, economics discipline
shows an interest in FOSS phenomenon as well as many other disciplines including education. In some economics studies
regarding FOSS, public good theory has been used for analyzing both FOSS and its effect on societal goals. According to these
studies, public good nature of FOSS as non-excludability and non-rivalry is quite remarkable and it could be regarded as a strong
rationale for supporting and using FOSS by governments and other public organizations. It is very clear that the direction of
struggle between FOSS and proprietary software will depend on practical applications of either kind of software in daily life. At
this point, it could easily be asserted that one of the most practical areas of FOSS is education. In that sense, an educational FOSS
concept combined with public good theory will provide a more stable foundation for governments and communities in producing
large-scale education benefits on the one hand, and play a crucial role for developing a new understanding of education in an age
of globalization on the other. By analyzing educational FOSS, this paper aims at bringing a new perspective to the FOSS
discussions in education environments.
© 2013 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR.
Keywords: Free and open source software, public good, education
1. Introduction
FOSS is defined as “software that the source code is open, that is freely available to the public”. It simply means
that everyone has the right to use, extend, adapt and redistribute the original or modified software (Schmidt &
Schnitzer, 2003: 475). Thoroughly, it refers to four types of freedom for the users of the software:
• The freedom to run the program for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source
code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
*
This paper was presented at III. European Conference on Social and Behavioral Sciences held in Rome, Italy on February 6-8,
2014.
†
E-mail address: moarslan@anadolu.edu.tr
158Free and open source software as a public good: Implications for education
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole
community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
In actual fact, when computer technology arose around 1960's and early 1970's all softwares were open source
and the programmers (hackers) were used to share softwares in their community freely. However, in the mid-1970s
some programmers such as Bill Gates advocated that sharing behaviors of hacker culture were not ethical and
software had to be priced as many other private goods and services in the market. In 1976, Gates issued his famous
‘An Open Letter to Hobbyists’ that he argued proprietary software as saying: “As the majority of hobbyists must be
aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if
the people who worked on it get paid?” Sooner, FOSS applications and the sharing culture of programmers were
effected negatively because of this approach (Yang & Wang, 2008: 1044).
In the first half of the 1980s, personal computer (PC) industry was emerged. Then, designing and
commercialization of software became a profitable area of business and some software vendors arose in computer
industry. When AT&T began to enforce its intellectual property rights over UNIX Operating System in the same
years, an opposition led by Richard Stallman began to unite (Boyer & Robert, 2006: 3-4). Then, Stallman initiated
GNU Operating System Project in 1983 to provide a free operating system to computer users and founded Free
Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985 to hold the rights of GNU Operating System Project and to fund this project
(Lee, 2010).
A milestone for GNU Operating System Project is the release of Linux kernel by Finnish hacker Linus Torvalds
in 1991. Torvalds and others combined this kernel with the rest of the GNU Operating System, and as a result,
GNU/Linux Operating System came into being. In 1998, a group of programmers led by Eric Raymond and Bruce
Perens accepted FOSS as a business model and founded Open Source Initiative (OSI). Since then, FOSS community
has been being drifted apart into two main groups as FSF and OSI.
In 1999, IBM announced its support for GNU/Linux Operating System. Since that time IBM has invested
considerable financial, technical, and marketing resources to foster the growth, development, and use of GNU/Linux
Operating System, and has made significant contributions to the community on which GNU/Linux relies. Also,
many service providers for GNU/Linux have appeared in software industry since then. These developments have
contributed FOSS popularity on Internet and FOSS applications have become more widespread.
Recently, FOSS has also been accepted as a public good. In this regard, public good nature of FOSS is
considered as a strong rationale for supporting and using FOSS by governments and other public organizations.
Because of its public good nature, FOSS has been used increasingly in many public services (e.g. in education,
science, health, general administration, etc.) in many different levels of governments in the world. Especially,
educational applications of FOSS have been gaining much more popularity for years.
This paper has three sections. The first section analyzes FOSS phenomenon with an emphasis on its public good
character. The second section discusses use of FOSS public good in education. Finally, the third section concludes.
Thus, the paper aims at stressing the importance of educational FOSS applications in today’s age of computer and
Internet.
2. Public Good Properties of Free and Open Source Software
In economics, a public good has two distinct aspects as nonrivalry in consumption and nonexcludability.
Nonrivalry means that an individual’s use does not reduce availability to other individuals. Nonexcludability means
that individuals cannot be effectively excluded from use (Samuelson, 1954: 387). National defense, sewer systems,
public parks are most common examples of public goods. However, there are much more goods which meet either
nonexcludability or nonrivalry, named semi-public goods such as education, health service etc.
159M. Oğuz Arslan
Table 1. Types of goods
RIVALRY
Low High
Public Goods Common-Pool Resources
Difficult National Defense Public Parks
Lighthouses Commons
EXCLUSION Club Goods Private Goods
Easy Schools Doughnuts
Golf Clubs Personal Computers
A detailed look at the requirements for FOSS as a public good points out that the license terms – e.g. Gnu Public
License – make the difference between FOSS and proprietary software. Because of the fact that software is an
immaterial good, the use of a FOSS by one individual does not affect its use by another individual. Therefore,
software meets nonrivalry characteristic. Thus, the first characteristic of a public good fulfilled by all softwares.
Under GPL, an individual cannot be excluded from use of software. Hence, the second characteristic of a public
good also fulfilled by FOSS. However, there are a few differences between classical public goods and FOSS. For
example, classical public goods are generally provided by public institutions, but FOSS is mostly provided by
private agents e.g. individuals, firms (Bessen, 2006). Also, there is a free rider problem in providing classical public
goods, but free riding is not a problem in providing FOSS and resulted in an increase in social welfare. As noted by
Agrawal (2006: 59), “in the traditional economy, free riding is something policymakers want to minimize. In this
unusual case, free riding may actually improve the efficiency of allocating the public good (by preventing waste) if
programmers are sufficiently motivated to provide the good privately in the first place”. Therefore, FOSS can be
qualified as ‘a new public good’ (Arslan, 2011).
3. Use of Free and Open Source Software in Education
As a new kind of public good, FOSS has been increasingly used in education sector for years. According to
FOSS philosophy, there are six strong reasons to use FOSS in schools, as quoted below (Gnu Operating System,
2011)
• The first reason is sharing. “Schools should teach the value of sharing by setting an example. Free software
supports education by allowing the sharing of knowledge and tools.”
• The second reason is social responsibility. “Computing has become an essential part of everyday life.
Digital technology is transforming society very quickly, and schools have an influence on the future of society. Their
mission is to get students ready to participate in a free digital society by teaching them the skills to make it easy for
them to take control of their own lives. Software should not be under the power of a software developer who
160Free and open source software as a public good: Implications for education
unilaterally makes decisions that nobody else can change. Educational institutions should not allow proprietary
software companies to impose their power on the rest of society and its future.”
• Another reason is independence. “Schools have an ethical responsibility to teach strength, not dependency
on a single product or a specific powerful company. Furthermore, by choosing to use free software, the school itself
gains independence from any commercial interests and it avoids vendor lock-in.”
• The fourth reason is learning. “When deciding where they will study, more and more students are
considering whether a university teaches computer science and software development using free software. Free
software means that students are free to study how the programs work and to learn how to adapt them for their own
needs. Learning about free software also helps in studying software development ethics and professional practice.”
• The fifth reason is saving. “This is an obvious advantage that will appeal immediately to many school
administrators, but it is a marginal benefit. The main point of this aspect is that by being authorized to distribute
copies of the programs at little or no cost, schools can actually aid families facing financial issues, thus promoting
fairness and equal opportunities of learning among students.”
• The last reason is quality. “Stable, secure and easily installed free software solutions are available for
education already. In any case, excellence of performance is a secondary benefit; the ultimate goal is freedom for
computer users.”
In education, we can separate educational FOSS into educational GNU/Linux operating system distributions
(distros), FOSS school and classroom management systems, and educational FOSS applications. Although nearly all
GNU/Linux distros provide a strong education and learning platform for students, some of them are designed mainly
for educational purposes. In this regard, EduUbuntu, K12LTSP, Skolelinux, Fedora Spins, UberStudent, KDE Edu,
Sugar Learning Platform, LOUD, Karoshi are of importance.
There are some FOSS school and classroom management systems that are available to assist educators in
teaching as well as in inspiring their students. Popular FOSS school management systems are OpenSIS, Epoptes,
Fedena and OpenAdmin. The distinctive classroom management systems are iTALC, Classroom Control
(ControlAula) and ClaSS.
• OpenSIS is a school administration application. It claims to reduce ownership cost for a school district by
as much as 75% when compared with commercial systems of the same capability.
• Epoptes is a FOSS computer lab management and monitoring tool. It allows for screen broadcasting and
monitoring, remote command execution, message sending, imposing restrictions like screen locking or sound
muting the clients and much more.
• Fedena is a FOSS school management system that has more features than a student information system.
Fedena gives teachers complete control over how they want to manage their school’s databases and provides many
tools to organize educational activities.
• OpenAdmin is a FOSS web-based school administration program that offers different web sites for
administrators, teachers, parents, and liaison officers.
• iTALC gives teachers the tools they need to manage a computer-based classroom without the high license
fees of proprietary software. Key features include remote control, demo viewing, overview mode, workstation
locking and VPN access for off-site students.
• ControlAula assists teachers in the management of a classroom with computers on the students’ desktops. It
also gives the students tools to share files, work in groups, and send messages to the teacher or to classmates.
• ClaSS offers a teacher-centric approach that focuses on making it easy to record and access data from
within the classroom. It tracks student information, attendance, and grades from a web-based interface.
161M. Oğuz Arslan
The vast majority of educational FOSS is educational FOSS applications. They range from office productivity
applications to computer infrastructure for schools (Zymaris, 2008). Among hundreds of educational FOSS
applications, most popular applications are listed below.
• FOSS Office Productivity Applications: Libre Office Suite (Writer, Math, Calc, Impress, Base), AbiWord,
KWord, KSpread, KPresenter, Kexi, Kivio, KPlato, KChart, KFormula.
• FOSS Graphics Applications: GIMP (for photo manipulation), Libre Office Draw, Karbon14 (for vector
drawing), Inkscape (for vector graphics), Blender 3D, FracPlanet, POV Ray, Krita, QCad (for 2D computer aided
design).
• FOSS Publishing Applications: Scribus, Lyx, KompoZer, Quanta Plus, LaTeX.
• FOSS Multimedia and Music Applications: VLC, MPlayer, Audacity, Note Editor, CinePaint, Kino,
MythTV, Music Keys, Jahshaka, GNU Solfege, LenMus.
• Scientific FOSS Applications: KStars, Kalzium, Celestia, Quantum GIS, The R Project, Stellarium,
SciCraft, Virtual Terrain Project, Step, MOLO, Qucs, Scilab.
• Mathematical FOSS Applications: Kig, TuxMath, KmPlot, Dr.Geo, KMathTool, KBruch, GeoGebra,
Maxima, Lybniz, xmaxima, YACAS, Mathematics Teacher Pro, Octave, Gretl, MathWar, Kayali, KAlgebra,
JFractionLab.
• FOSS Geography Applications: KGeography, WorldWind, Marble, NASA World Wind.
• FOSS Language Applications: KMessedWords, KLearnSpelling, KWordQuiz, KLettres, KTranslators,
Parley, GoldenDict, Kanagram, OpenTeacher.
• FOSS Programming Applications: Alice, Scratch, KTurtle, StarLogo, TurtleArt, KDevelop, Eclipse,
DrPython, Little Wizard, Squeak.
• Educational FOSS Games: XiStrat, FreeCiv, BZFlag, Vega Strike, GL-117, XshipWars, Mars Simulation
Project, GalaxyHack, LinCity NG, Thunder & Lightning, ORSA (celestial mechanic simulation), Gravity,
Flightgear, JClic, RealTimeBattle, Battle for Wesnoth, Core Wars.
• FOSS Computer Infrastructure for Schools: SmoothWall, DansGuardian, Wireshark, Squid, Apache,
ModSecurity, Samba, Securepoint Security Suite.
• FOSS Content Management Systems: OPEN-XCHANGE, PHProjekt, Drupal, Mambo, Joomla!,
OpenBiblio, Greenstone, LAMS (learning activity management system).
• FOSS for Primary School Children: KTouch, TuxPaint, Pysycache, blinKen, KHangMan, KTuberling, Tux
Typing, Multiplication Flash, ChildsPlay, GCompris, Kidspainter.
• FOSS for Online Education and eLearning: Claroline, DOKEOS, Moodle, eFront, ILIAS.
• FOSS Testing Applications: TCExam, iTest, Safe Exam Browser.
Today, many governments are using FOSS solutions in their public education systems. However, use of
educational FOSS is varying from one government to another. In this sense, especially Brazil’s dedication for using
educational FOSS in all levels of public education is noteworthy. In 2009, Ministry of Education of Brazil declared
to start the world’s most comprehensive program that aimed at using FOSS applications in nearly all schools in four
years (Eser, 2011: 92).
There are also some projects in the world that aim to provide computers to students that use FOSS to some
degree. USA, France, Portugal, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland and Scotland have all run their
specific projects having regard to their educational needs and goals and also their economic powers (Pamuk et al.,
2013: 1801-1802).
162Free and open source software as a public good: Implications for education
In 2010, Ministry of National Education of Turkey has launched another comprehensive project, Movement of
Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology (Turkish abbr. FATİH), which worth 8 billion dollar. Project
FATİH purposes to equip 42,000 schools and 570,000 classes with the latest information technologies and to
transform them into computerized classes (named ‘smart class’). With Project FATİH, five different components are
composed for Turkish education system (Project FATİH web site).
• Providing equipment and software substructure
• Providing educational e-content and management of e-content
• Effective usage of the ICT in teaching programs
• In-service training of teachers
• Conscious, reliable, manageable and measurable ICT usage
Project FATİH was a great opportunity to incorporate FOSS into public education system with deriving benefit
from Pardus, a Turkish free operating system. However, the Project met with failure in most of its aspects. Firstly,
although it was aimed to use Pardus in the Project, then, a proprietary operating system was also included to the
Project. Also, Pardus’ original source codes replaced with Debian source codes and the developer team of Pardus
dismissed. A proprietary operating system and Pardus were installed together to smart boards and tablet PCs, but in-
service training of teachers for using smart board and tablet PC was only based on that proprietary operating system.
Secondly, Project FATİH failed to reach physical infrastructure goals evidently. It was targeted to renew Internet
infrastructure in 21,689 schools, but Internet was renewed only in 154 schools (0.7%). It was targeted to use smart
boards in 21,689 schools, but smart boards were used only in 3,657 schools (16%). It was targeted to renew servers
and computers in 21,689 schools, but this hardware was renewed only in 216 schools (1%). It was targeted to create
295,000 smart classes, but 84,921 smart classes were created (29%). After this failure, Ministry of National
Education of Turkey surprisingly set up an inquiry for Project FATİH for its financial mismanagement in 2013.
On June 23, 2013, Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) issued an open letter that urges Government of
Turkey to take FOSS into account for Project FATİH, and to consider the risks of proprietary software:
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
Recently you visited America to discuss the acquisition of 10.6 million tablets from leading technology
companies for students, on behalf of Turkey's project FATIH.
We urge you to take alternative products into consideration, and consider the impact of the software those
tablets use.
Google, Apple, and Microsoft, who hosted you, all tie their tablets to software, which would prevent
Turkish children from studying and customizing it. The companies you spoke to enforce strict proprietary
licensing which would ensure that schools could only lease their ability to use applications, not own them
or rights to them.
Free Software, contrastingly, protects students' rights to use, study, share, and improve it. In an
educational context these rights can make the difference between consumers and creators. Without these
freedoms, the 17 million students affected by your plan cannot experiment or develop the understanding
necessary to lead digital economies in future.
Software support and maintenance is expensive, and proprietary software exacerbates these costs by
restricting who can provide you with services. By using Free Software, Turkish schools would lose their
dependency on a single vendor, and competition for service contracts could be more local, and more
competitive.
163M. Oğuz Arslan
Finally, for better security of both schools and students, Free Software makes its code available,
providing evidence of how it functions. This week's revelations surrounding British Government spying
on Turkish politicians at the G20 summit highlight the importance of software security and privacy.
Educational computers should not provide back-doors for foreign Governments and companies.
Apple, Google and Microsoft all embrace Free Software themselves, and use it internally. Making the
step towards Free Software tablets is important however, and several global manufacturers and
distributors offer Free Software devices for sale. Will the freedom of Turkey's citizens be considered in
your forthcoming decision to purchase tablets?
Please send us your answer, and do not hesitate to contact us should you have further questions about the
contents of this letter.
Yours Sincerely,
Sam Tuke, Vicen Rodriguez, Filip Lobik
The Free Software Foundation Europe e.V.
Source: FSFE (2013).
To implement Project FATİH successfully, first of all, the problems of physical infrastructure should be solved
immediately. Especially, buying millions of tablet PCs and smart boards and also constructing ten thousands of
smart classes entail excessive public spending at first hand. Hence, an adequate financing mechanism has to be
guaranteed by Government of Turkey.
As a technological public good, FOSS seems as the sine qua non for the success of the Project. In this respect, it
is required to activate original Pardus architecture and integrate it into the Project as the unique operating system.
Additionally, in-service training of teachers should be based on FOSS. FOSS school and classroom management
systems and educational FOSS applications should be used to facilitate the running process of the Project
effectively, too.
Besides, the management process of the Project have to be run in accordance with accountability and
transparency principles, and open to universities, education community and non-governmental organizations.
By using FOSS within Project FATİH and public education, Turkey most probably gains great advantages. In the
first place, Turkey can gain strategic benefits such as developing local capacity, reducing imports (thus, conserving
foreign exchange), reducing copyright infringements, improving national security and etc. At second hand, it is
highly probable to gain economic benefits such as reducing total cost of ownership and achieving vendor
independence. Also, it will provide increasing access to information for students as a social benefit (Wong, 2004: 3-
10).
4. Conclusion
It is very clear that FOSS has public good properties as non-excludability and non-rivalry. Hence, increasing the
provision of FOSS locally or globally enhances social welfare without any efficiency loss. In this regard, as one of
the most practical areas of FOSS, educational FOSS is thought of as producing large-scale benefits as seen in some
countries.
Educational FOSS can be classified into three categories as educational GNU/Linux operating system
distributions (distros), FOSS school and classroom managements systems, and educational FOSS applications. In
education sector, all of these categories should be used to benefit from FOSS depending on needs and priorities of
schools and classes.
164Free and open source software as a public good: Implications for education
In recent years, many governments have been using FOSS in their public education systems and large-scale
educational projects, with various degrees. In this context, Turkey’s Project FATİH is one of the largest projects of
the world, which aim to equip 42,000 schools and 570,000 classes with the latest information technologies and to
provide 10.6 million tablet PCs to students, beside other goals. However, the Project encountered serious
infrastructural, software related, financial and managerial problems that placed it at risk. To implement Project
FATİH successfully, these problems must be solved as soon as possible. Specifically, to solve software related
problems of the Project; FOSS has to be considered as a public good and to be incorporated into the Project as a
major component. With effective FOSS usage in Project FATİH, Turkey will have a crucial opportunity to generate
considerable strategic, economic and social benefits. On the other hand, educational FOSS will give rise to an
important leap towards a new kind of educational understanding by integrating free, open, cooperative and sharing
culture into the education system.
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