The primary purpose for OpenSage.net is to share information. You will find a wide range of topics on this site,
so there is sure to be something of interest for everybody that is interested in the many different aspects of computing.
What are your computing interests? Here are just a few of the topics you can look forward to learning more about:
operating systems, computer languages, photo manipulation, graphics, screen capturing, creating websites, building
your own computer and much more.
Some of the ways OpenSage.net can help the average computer user, is by giving an overview of the different open source or free products and services, as well as providing links to receive and use them. With the tutorials provided you will be able to learn the basics of the products and services and get a feel of how they look and operate. The site is also laid out in such a way you will be able to easily navigate through it.
OpenSage.net is also dedicated to simplifying what can often be hard to understand when trying to learn from other
sources. Purhaps you are only interested in one topic, but this site will excel for those that are wanting to continually
improve their computing intellect. With all the new forms of media readily available, it is very easy to learn new subjects
faster and OpenSage.net is ready to take advantage of those opportuities.
Computer technology is constantly changing at a rapid pace and OpenSage.net is here to help inform and explain these
new and exciting innovations and transformations. Nobody is an expert at every aspect of computing, but coming back
to this site will help keep you up to date. Be sure to bookmark this page so you can always find it quickly and view some
of these exciting changes in the computing world.
The true inspiration for creating this website was to share as much of the information I have learned about open source throughout the years, but most I have learned about recently. Many of the products and services we use and pay for will many times have an open source equivalent and most will come free of charge.
What are open source products and services? The first definition in the Google dictionary is defined as an adjective and states it as "Denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification". A few open source products that you may already be familiar with are:
1) Google
2) Wikipedia - an internet encyclopidia
3) Open Office - similar to Microsoft® Office
4) Firefox - internet browser similar to Internet Explorer
5) Linux - an operating system like Microsoft Windows®
6) GIMP - image manipulation program similar to Photoshop®
7) Android - operating system for mobile devices similar to iPhone®
8) Facebook - was developed from the ground up using open source software.
As you can see some of the most popular products being used in computing today are open source and free of charge. You may be asking yourself what is the purpose for these companies and organizations to make their source code available to the public. I guess each business and organization has their own reasons for choosing to be a part of the open source community, but much of it has to do with sharing ideas and knowledge is better as a whole I would guess. I think of it similar to this; people choose to share their recipes and cooking methods with others all the time, but what would be the benefits of everybody keeping all of their recipes a secret? Their own methods of cooking and the meals would not be nearly as good if they had not had the opportunity to freely exchange ideas and knowledge with others. That may be a crude way of explaining my thoughts, but the end result will still apply, meaning computing as a whole becomes more efficient with the sharing of knowledge and ideas. As you can see by the few examples of the companies and organizations I listed above, it has helped them to grow and become much more efficient over time. Their products and services have improved much faster than if they had kept everything a secret.
There is a lot of different opinions and controversy over the open-source philosophy. Most of the arguments that say "Open Source" is bad or evil, come from sources of proprietary software companies. Some of their arguments say that open source projects take funding away from commercial research and development. There are also claims that it steals jobs away from others. I guess those arguments could be true, but when I look at these open source companies and organizations, they are spending money for research and development and they create jobs themselves.
Taking all of the above into consideration, how do these companies exist if they offer most of their products and services for free? There are many different ways, but here are a few examples of how they obtain the capital to cover their expenses and even make profits. Many receive donations form many different sources and for different reasons, such as the users of their projects that want to help contribute. Sometimes large companies will donate for there own reasons, such as Microsoft® donating to different open source projects and to linux, but this was in their own best interests I think. Others like Ubuntu offer their products for free, but they may offer some of their services for a fee, such as support for their products to businesses. Then there are others that may offer their products or services for free, but are able to sell different forms of advertisement to not only cover their costs, but make profits. Just look to a company like Google for an example of that.