At Any Rate

Just downloaded the new Firefox 3.0. Let’s hope Mozilla sets the download world record today. While on the topic of open source, I recently came across a survey by CIO.com that said “more than half the respondents are using open-source applications.”

On the e-Learning side of the story, companies seem to be unsure about open-source solutions. But this could change very quickly. Open-source LMS and LCMS applications are getting better all the time, and they’re becoming surprisingly easy to use. I was quite impressed with how quickly I could get going on Moodle and how easy it was to start creating a course on ATutor. Apart from the initial cost savings, the big advantage is, of course, the ability to modify the code to suit your needs.

I believe synchronous e-Learning (also called virtual classroom) is not used as often as it should be, and open-source applications are beginning to give proprietary aps a run for their money. Try Dimdim (don’t be fooled by the name), and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Ultimately, the decision to go open will depend not only on price, but also on functionality, especially for large enterprises. The good news is that open-source learning technologies are much further ahead than most people imagine. Also open source is much more than just free software.