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I suspect he knew what personal computing was on his campus, and while he did not know any of the technical issues involved with deploying and administering Vista, he knew the IT staff on his campus would have to make it happen, automagicaly!

If this person happened to be a decision maker on campus, SUSE as a desktop operating system would be dismissed because of open source issues (apples), not issues related to the actual functionality and usability (oranges). I would ask, does your Student Services or the Alumni Office really care if their business systems are running on AIX, Linux, OpenSolaris, Unix or Windows? I would wager no, they really only care that they can enroll students, assess fees and contact students and alumni. So, why then, would the office staff care if they where running SLED, OSX or Vista if all they really want to do is manage spreadsheets, write emails, store files, print and browse the web? They only would if OSS proponents bring it up. Enterprise level OSS is mature enough that it should be assessed just as commercial software is, based on business needs, functionality, features and usability.

So let’s embrace the automagic! Let’s let our colleagues live in peace, they don’t care about the technology issues low in the software stack (OS, servers, databases), they just want their applications up and running. So they shouldn’t care about the technology issues with the applications they can touch (LMS’s, SIS’s, desktop OS’s), they just want their applications up and running. To turn things around, I don’t really care if my campus uses Angel, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai or nothing! That’s the on-line learning folks decision, and my job as CIO should be to make it work. And, I hope the faculty don’t care if we run OpenVM, Linux, Apache or MySQL, that’s how I’ll make their applications work, automagicaly.

Open source software goes to eleven

Often in an effort to show added value, proponents for an open source application will include the benefits of open source development, for example, the ability to customize the application for campus-specific needs. This was just the case when I attended the recent NERCOMP/EDUCAUSE Conference and sat in on a presentation discussing a campus’ recent migration from Blackboard to Moodle. The presentation started off with, what I feel where several salient issues; why they felt it was time to re-evaluate their on-line teaching and learning tools, how they identified and evaluated the various offerings (feature set, licensing, etc.) and, migration and training issues. These topics where all specifically related to their department’s business practices and campus/faculty/student needs in on-line education. Unfortunately this was only half of the hour-long presentation. The second half was devoted to technical issues and presented by a PHP developer who was introduced as, “someone you really needed to have if you are going to run an open source LMS.” The topics discussed were; setting up a server (both hardware and software), downloading and installing Moodle and MySQL, development tools, working with the Moodle community in development and finding support, and even examples of both their customizations and supporting PHP code.

Questions & Answers

how does Neisseria cause meningitis
Nyibol Reply
what is microbiologist
Muhammad Reply
what is errata
Muhammad
is the branch of biology that deals with the study of microorganisms.
Ntefuni Reply
What is microbiology
Mercy Reply
studies of microbes
Louisiaste
when we takee the specimen which lumbar,spin,
Ziyad Reply
How bacteria create energy to survive?
Muhamad Reply
Bacteria doesn't produce energy they are dependent upon their substrate in case of lack of nutrients they are able to make spores which helps them to sustain in harsh environments
_Adnan
But not all bacteria make spores, l mean Eukaryotic cells have Mitochondria which acts as powerhouse for them, since bacteria don't have it, what is the substitution for it?
Muhamad
they make spores
Louisiaste
what is sporadic nd endemic, epidemic
Aminu Reply
the significance of food webs for disease transmission
Abreham
food webs brings about an infection as an individual depends on number of diseased foods or carriers dully.
Mark
explain assimilatory nitrate reduction
Esinniobiwa Reply
Assimilatory nitrate reduction is a process that occurs in some microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea, in which nitrate (NO3-) is reduced to nitrite (NO2-), and then further reduced to ammonia (NH3).
Elkana
This process is called assimilatory nitrate reduction because the nitrogen that is produced is incorporated in the cells of microorganisms where it can be used in the synthesis of amino acids and other nitrogen products
Elkana
Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu Reply
Give Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu
advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal Reply
Prevent foreign microbes to the host
Abubakar
they provide healthier benefits to their hosts
ayesha
They are friends to host only when Host immune system is strong and become enemies when the host immune system is weakened . very bad relationship!
Mark
what is cell
faisal Reply
cell is the smallest unit of life
Fauziya
cell is the smallest unit of life
Akanni
ok
Innocent
cell is the structural and functional unit of life
Hasan
is the fundamental units of Life
Musa
what are emergency diseases
Micheal Reply
There are nothing like emergency disease but there are some common medical emergency which can occur simultaneously like Bleeding,heart attack,Breathing difficulties,severe pain heart stock.Hope you will get my point .Have a nice day ❣️
_Adnan
define infection ,prevention and control
Innocent
I think infection prevention and control is the avoidance of all things we do that gives out break of infections and promotion of health practices that promote life
Lubega
Heyy Lubega hussein where are u from?
_Adnan
en français
Adama
which site have a normal flora
ESTHER Reply
Many sites of the body have it Skin Nasal cavity Oral cavity Gastro intestinal tract
Safaa
skin
Asiina
skin,Oral,Nasal,GIt
Sadik
How can Commensal can Bacteria change into pathogen?
Sadik
How can Commensal Bacteria change into pathogen?
Sadik
all
Tesfaye
by fussion
Asiina
what are the advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal
what are the ways of control and prevention of nosocomial infection in the hospital
Micheal
what is inflammation
Shelly Reply
part of a tissue or an organ being wounded or bruised.
Wilfred
what term is used to name and classify microorganisms?
Micheal Reply
Binomial nomenclature
adeolu
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Source:  OpenStax, The impact of open source software on education. OpenStax CNX. Mar 30, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10431/1.7
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