training

Page to pool ideas for a transition course from Windows to Ubuntu

Aim

To equip less technical Windows users for their upgrade to Ubuntu

Course outline

This course is based on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty and aims to train new users of Ubuntu on how to use key applications including mainstream office applications, Internet connectivity and browsing, graphic art tools, multi-media and music. It is essential to provide plenty of screenshots for all the classes except the first. These will need to be based on Natty for look and feel, but internet and OpenOffice can be provided for prior to the release of Natty.

Modules

Understanding the concepts of open source and how they tie in with Ubuntu

Customise the look and feel of the Ubuntu desktop

Navigate through the file system and search for files

Connect to and use the Internet

Perform basic word-processing and spreadsheet functions using OpenOffice.org

Section 1

What is open source software?

Open source software is software which anyone is allowed to use, modify or distribute. Originally coined in 1998, the term open source came out of the free software movement, a collaborative force going strong since the dawn of computing in the 1950s. This early community was responsible for the development of many of the first operating systems, software and, in 1969, the Internet itself.

The open source community is thriving and today boasts some of the best brains in the business. The aim has not changed: free systems and software should be available to everybody, wherever they are. Without open source, many of the systems and applications we take for granted simply would not exist. All the big players in computing come from, or owe a huge creative debt to, the open source community, and continue to rely on its talent and expertise when developing new products.

In the spirit of open source, Ubuntu is absolutely free to download, use, share and improve however and whenever you like.

How much does it cost?

Nothing, it’s free. Unlike, say, Microsoft Office or MacOS (‘proprietary software’), you don't pay a company a licence fee to use it.

Why?

Good question - and one which would take too long to do justice to here. Open source is a hard concept to get your head around when you’re used to paying for your software, but basically there is a worldwide movement dedicated to providing computer users with viable alternatives to paid-for proprietary software, thereby making computer software and the benefits they bring available to everyone for free.

It works in this way. You use the software and you like it. Then you feel you would like to contribute. We do this in many different ways according to our knowledge and skills. Programmers share their skills in their leisure time. Writers write manuals, others spend time looking at problems and helping find a solution … Open Source is a partnership between the private sector such as Canonical (the proprietor of Ubuntu) and many other for-profit companies, working alongside thousands of volunteers. The result is excellent software that is more thoroughly tested and usually better than applications that you pay for.

Everybody's doing it – from IBM to Google, Firefox to Wikipedia – some of today's best software is based on open-source technologies. Shared code, shared efforts, shared principles. No cost. You are probably already using open source software on your existing machine and never realised it!

Volunteer organizations are a part of everyday life in all sectors: children's and youth work is one example. Many of the people who do this work are highly trained professionals who are either retired or have some spare time. The same is true in the Open Source community.

ubuntu |oǒ'boǒntoō|

Ubuntu is owned by Canonical. Canonical is a commercial organisation that specialises in supporting other commercial organisations in their use of Ubuntu and the applications that they are running on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning 'humanity to others'. It also means 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Further reading about this can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu

UbuntuAdverts/training (last edited 2011-01-22 12:54:38 by cpc2-nott3-0-0-cust525)