FAQ

About this Guide

What is the guide for?

This is guide is written to help people migrate to the use of Open Source Software. The intention is to provide background information, assistance and encouragement for anyone contemplating using Open Source Software in their business or organisation. It isn't intended to form a catalogue of all possible software projects nor does it replace detailed howto guides. It is intended as a starting point, not a complete reference.

Why doesn't the guide list my favourite package

Because time or editorial judgement means it wasn't included. Completeness will never be possible. If you feel really strongly then look at the format for other contents and submit a fully-written proposal. Just emailing your gripes is highly unlikely to get a result, since it shows that you aren't bothered enough to do the work yourself.

Who decides what goes in?

At present the guide is maintained and edited by Mike Banahan of GBdirect. My current rate of receipt of emails is standing at around 1,000 per day, the majority of which are rejected by spam filters. Time to read contributions is limited.

Why didn't you wait till the guide was finished before publishing it?

Because if that was done it would never be published: it will never be finished. Agreed it is ridiculously incomplete at present, but it is being added to regularly. Serious additional contributors are now being encouraged to participate as well.

How do I ...

Contribute to the Guide

Contributions are welcome via the contact form (see table of contents in the left-hand column). Corrections or enhancements to the existing content are the most welcome; lobbying to have your favourite package included will be less so, although all contributions are read. Depending on the volume of feedback received, it may not always be possible to reply individually to comments. Writing and maintaining this guide is a labour of love, it is not paid-for work.

Mirror the Contents

Mirroring will be welcome before long. It is not a simple matter of rsyncing or ftping the contents though since as currently written the contents are stored as a combination of text and a MySQL database. Using wget might be an alternative. Mirroring will be addressed properly at some time in the future.

Obtain permission to reproduce the contents

Urgh. Not sure about that at present. Fair-use extracts are encouraged (with attribution). The licence/copyright issues have not been considered in any detail at all yet. Some form of open documentation licence will probably be selected when time permits.

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