English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Whew, this week has been busy. For the project this week I researched all sorts of information and have posted some of my findings in three different blogs. The types of research included total cost of ownership (TCO) of both open source and Microsoft software, and case studies of small schools that are using open source. The best resource I've found so far is the study that compares Microsoft products to OSS equivalents in almost every conceivable way.

For my third research blog, I've chosen to highlight some case studies I've located on small schools that are having success using open source software. Many times "success" is defined by the school as simply the software does everything the closed source alternative can do, but it's up front cost is zero. The only costs associated with this type of software are management, maintenance, and loss (loss can be functionality, downtime, missing features, etc.)

For my second research blog I'm analyzing the best research I've found to date. This is a comprehensive article that compares open source products to their Microsoft counterparts in lots of ways including cost and performance. The article specifically considers Apache vs IIS, OpenOffice vs Office, GNU/Linux vs Windows, and Mozilla vs IE. These are identified in the research as being at the forefront of the open source software movement, and are the easiest to use and transition to from Microsoft products.

I've been researching studies that involve costs and other related material of software in both education and business settings. A helpful resource I've located is a study completed by Gartner in late 2008 that attempts to make some predictions on the open source software model and its future trends.

The white paper project presents many issues of ethics I hadn’t even considered before reading this week’s TCT. Since this is a group project, it raises both social and personal ethical decisions. Like the text says, many of these aren’t in fact ethical dilemmas, but simply the difference between right and wrong, and the right choice has probably already been made without extra consideration.

During week 12 of this project I began by researching how to create a gantt chart, as I was tasked with this. I had a copy of Microsoft Project, so I chose to use it to make the chart. After reviewing the calendar, the group decided which activities were going to be accomplished individually, and those that would be done as a group. I used this information to create the chart, and followed the submission deadlines posted on the calendar.