Open source in higher education: how far have we come?

Universities are ahead of the curve in adopting open source, says Scott Wilson – we should now lead the public sector in exploring its full potential. From your smartphone to your TV, open source software is present everywhere there's a computer. Over half of UK companies use it so it's surprising more people don't know what it is.
Open source is an approach to coding and creating software. It's free to use and, as the name suggests, denotes a code that is open to be used, adapted and distributed by anyone. You can examine it and learn from it, change the purpose of it and even share it. This approach can offer huge cost savings, but it's the ability to play with the software which offers the greatest benefits. Read more...