Free Software Leftovers
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SSRN ☛ The Value of Open Source Software
The value of a non-pecuniary (free) product is inherently difficult to assess. A pervasive example is open source software (OSS), a global public good that plays a vital role in the economy and is foundational for most technology we use today. However, it is difficult to measure the value of OSS due to its non-pecuniary nature and lack of centralized usage tracking. Therefore, OSS remains largely unaccounted for in economic measures. Although prior studies have estimated the supply side costs to recreate this software, a lack of data has hampered estimating the much larger demand-side (usage) value created by OSS. Therefore, to understand the complete economic and social value of widely-used OSS, we leverage unique global data from two complementary sources capturing OSS usage by millions of global firms. We first estimate the supply-side value by calculating the cost to recreate the most widely used OSS once. We then calculate the demand side value based on a replacement value for each firm that uses the software and would need to build it internally if OSS did not exist. We estimate the supply-side value of widely-used OSS is $4.15 billion, but that the demand-side value is much larger at $8.8 trillion. We find that firms would need to spend 3.5 times more on software than they currently do if OSS did not exist. The top six programming languages in our sample comprise 84% of the demand-side value of OSS. Further, 96% of the demand-side value is created by only 5% of OSS developers.
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uni Emory ☛ How proctoring improves the lives of university students through its integration with Moodle
Today, we’re embarking on a journey that’s shaping the future of education – the powerful integration of SMOWL Proctoring with Moodle. This isn’t just about proctoring; it’s a dynamic partnership that’s rewriting the rules of secure and seamless assessments for university students. So, settle in, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s explore the game-changing alliance between SMOWL and Moodle.
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Tedium ☛ Cropping Into A Debate: I took a pretty rough swipe at GIMP last week, and rather than letting sleeping dogs lie, I’d like to explain my POV on the popular open-source image editor.
If you read threads trying to describe GIMP’s UI issues, they inevitably go in one direction: “Well, can you actually cite any issues, or are you just used to Photoshop?” That sort of standoffish approach to legitimate concerns about an interface tool that is buried in decades of cruft, that deserves a degree of modernization, just ticks people off.
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Productivity Software/LibreOffice
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Document Foundation ☛ Armenian translation of LibreOffice complete
LibreOffice is available in over 100 languages, thanks to our worldwide community of localisers and translators. And for the upcoming LibreOffice 24.2 release, it will be available in Armenian for the first time!
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