Open source software is great and it’s not only great for developers who can code and use the source directly. Open source is a philosophy. Open source is for technology like what democracy is for society: it isn’t magically superior right away, but it enables a process which over time leads to best results – or at least avoids the worst results. A totalitarian regime might be efficient and benevolent, but there is a big risk it will become corrupt and get bad. And then a totalitarian regime gets bad, it can be really, really ugly.
Because of this philosophy even regular office workers should strive for maximizing their use of open source software. To help ordinary non-technical people Seravo has contributed to the VALO-CD project, which in 2008-2013 created a collection of the best Free and Open Source Software for Windows, which is available both in Finnish and English. The CD (contents suitable also for a USB stick) and related materials are still available for download.
We have also participated in promoting open standards. Most recently we helped the Free Software Foundation Europe publish a press releases in Finland regarding the Document Freedom Day. Also the theme of our latest Seravo-salad was the OpenDocument Format. Open standards are essential in making sure users can access their own data and open files in different programs. Open standards is also about programs being able to communicate with each other directly using publicly defined protocols and interfaces.
Information technology is rather challenging, and understanding abstract principles like open source and open standards does not happen in one go. Seravo is proud to support the oldest open source competence center in Europe, the Finnish Center for Open Systems and Solutions COSS ry which has promoted open technologies in Finland since 2003.
When it comes down to details, training is needed. This and last year we have cooperated with the Visio educational centre in Helsinki to provide courses on how to utilize open source software in non-profit organizations.
Learn more
We have recently published the following presentations in Finnish so people can learn more by themselves:
