Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
9/25/2006
Ideally, the market would support both open source and proprietary or open source compatible vendor applications. Among the conclusions of the A-HEC study was a pointer to the need for “pervasive adoption of learning application standards that enable crossindustry return on investment.” But it’s not a simple picture. Also noted in the conclusions: “The question is, can the diverse cultures of commercial companies, open source developers, and higher education institutions work together effectively to create an environment where commercial and open source products are compatible?”
In contrast to the mainstream open source movement, we’re just out of the gate for open source adoption of higher ed applications. And the A-HEC study captures a point in time. It d'esn’t really portray the passion of the open source community in this market; the education “grassroots” counterparts of early Linux and Apache developers. While the study d'es offer some positive predictions about increasing adoption in the next three years, it can’t forecast the long-term effects community efforts may have. Are they moving into high gear? It’s conceivable that open source adoption of higher ed applications will pick up speed, and soon—to the point where research studies like A-HEC’s will have a hard time keeping up.
copy text (above) for proper citation