Hi CPE802 Class!

I join this course because it is related to computers, what I use everyday.

The Professor described what it is like to work in an open source environment: "total chaos"! That's interesting though, because I think it is the right environment for creativity and crazy ideas!

I realize that I have been using a few pieces of OSS myself, namely:

-Firefox, Chrome

-VLC, Foobar2000

I am equally satisfied with them as with CSS (is it the opposite for OSS: Close Source Software???)...I think it would be even more interesting if I can take part in customizing these software, with modules and add-ons. I have been using those developed by others though.

I think the experience of using OSS is very different from that with a CSS one. For me it would be the freedom to change the way the software works to suit your liking and habits!

I hope what I learn from this class will enable me to have an overview of OSS itself: how people go around initiating and improving it and its application in daily life.

I am not sure if there is any OSS I have been using for my own academic work, since all the software I need like EViews and Stata have to be paid for (by the school, of course!). Maybe I would write some entry on explaining why OSS is not (yet) popular with us, economics students.

Ngo Dieu Thuy Trang