Why Open Source?

If you are unsure about why you might want an Open Source platform, take a look at our why open source? discussion.

Open Source Software Applications

There are a raft of 'free' software applications which can be run on a Linux server. Many of these really are enterprise-class. See the Free Software Foundation Europe (fsfe) website to find out more about what is understood by free and open source software.

Go to http://sourceforge.com for a comprehensive list of Open Source Software applications available. Educators may be interested in the list of Open Source applications available at http://eduforge.org/

TDM use this page to list the open source platforms we have successfully installed and tested on a Linux server.  NB... there of lots of other open source applications which are not on this list. This does not mean that they are not excellent platorms. It just means that we at TDM have not trialled them on our servers. If an application is in this list below, however, it means that we have trialled it and that we think it is ready for you to use.

Get going on your journey to discover what could be made possible for you by running free software on Linux by following some of the links below:

Virtual Learning Environments / Learning Management Systems

You can deliver distance learning, make course content available 24/7 and even use the internet as a Virtual Teaching Assistant by adopting  Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

• Moodle
• ATutor
• Dokeos

e-Portfolio Platforms / Personalised Learning Environments (Click here to see the TDM Book on Mahara)

• Mahara

e-Learning Course Authoring

• Xerte Online Toolkits

Website Content Management Systems

• Drupal
• Joomla
• Typo3
• Wordpress

Management / Administrative software for Schools:

• SchoolTool

Shopping Carts

• osCommerce
• Magento

Business Telephony (VOIP) Systems

• Trixbox

Virtual Offices

• FengOffice (OpenGoo)
• OpenAtrium

Project Management Appplications

• dotProject

Customer Relationship Management Systems

• vTiger
• SugarCRM (SugarCE)

Image Galleries

• Gallery

Blogging Platforms

• Wordpress
• b2evolution
• Elgg

Microblogging platforms

• StatusNet

Enterprise Content or Document Management Systems (intranets & repositories)

• Alfresco Community Edition

Human Resource Management Systems:

• OrangeHRM

Video and Media sharing Platforms

• PHPmotion

Wiki Platforms

• MediaWiki
• Twiki

Forum platforms

• PhpBB

Survey platforms

• LimeSurvey

Webmail platforms

• SquirrelMail
• Horde

Just a few of the many, many useful server-side applications

• phpMyAdmin
• Piwik

and...

Just a few of the many, many useful Linux desktop applications

• Ubuntu
• GIMP
• Inkscape
• Audacity