A program which does something that the user wants. For example, web browsing applications, including Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey.

a Creative Commons license requiring attribution and that derived works are distributed under the same license but denying the right to exploit it commercially.

Creative Commons offers various licenses, cc-by-nc-sa indicates:

You are free:

• to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
• to make derivative works

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution. You must give the original author credit
• Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
• Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

A Creative Commons license requiring attribution and that derived works are distributed under the same license.

Creative Commons offers various licenses, cc-by-sa indicates:
You are free:

• to Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• to Remix: to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
• Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A system for sharing the work of publishing material on the web.
A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to create, edit, manage, and publish content in a consistently organized fashion. CMSs can be used in schools for developing collaborative materials, publishing school websites and prospectuses, presenting school calendars and the like. They offer more control over publishing content than wikis.  Examples of open source CMSs include Joomla!, Plone and Drupal.

A licence that allows users to share work.
Creative Commons is an organisation that provides free to use tools and licences that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use Creative Commons to change your copyright terms from 'All Rights Reserved' to 'Some Rights Reserved.' These licenses are legally enforceable and can allow others to modify, reuse or build on your work.
http://creativecommons.org

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol  is a protocol used by networked devices (clients) to obtain the information necessary for operation in an Internet Protocol network. This protocol reduces system administration workload, allowing devices to be added to the network with little or no manual intervention.

(From Wikipedia)

A collection of programs to make it easier to install an operating system.

A collection of programs to make it easier to install an operating system.  For example, in the case of a GNU/Linux distribution, the operating system will consist of the Linux kernel and, usually, a set of libraries and utilities from the GNU project, with graphics support from the X Window System. There are currently over three hundred Linux distributions. Most of them are in active development, constantly being revised and improved.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource participating in the Internet. It associates various information with domain names assigned to such participants. Most importantly, it translates human meaningful domain names to the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices world-wide.

Free, libre and open source software, also F/OSS, FOSS, or FLOSS (for Free/Libre/Open Source Software) is software which is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. This approach has gained both momentum and acceptance as the potential benefits have been increasingly recognized by both individuals and corporate players.

From Wikipedia

Indicates freedom to  run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.

The word free in Free Software refers to the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. It does not refer to the price of the software. More precisely, a programme is Free Software if users have the four freedoms:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to one's needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour.
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. The GPL is the most popular and well-known example of the type of strong copyleft license that requires derived works to be available under the same copyleft. Under this philosophy, the GPL is said to grant the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License

An environment design to help programmers.

IDE (Integrated Development Environment) refers to an integrated computer programming environment that usually has a user-friendly graphical user interface and that provides the necessary tools for developing computer programs.

The code that provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system.

The kernel is the essential centre of a computer operating system, the core that provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system. A synonym is nucleus. A kernel can be contrasted with a shell or User Interface, the outermost part of an operating system that interacts with user commands.

A system connecting computers on a single site.

LAN (Local Area Network) is a local computer network for communication between computers, typically covering a small area such as an office building or a group of buildings like a campus. A LAN may be connected to the Internet or it may be a separate distinct network. LAN is commonly used for sharing of resources such as files, printers and disk storage.

A project to put all of MIT's course on line for free use.

In 2001, MIT announced the OpenCourseWare (OCW) project through which it would make available course material used in the courses taught at MIT. These would be available online for use by educators, students and self-learners from anywhere in the world. Materials for 700 courses from virtually all the academic disciplines are currently available on the OCW website.

http://ocw.mit.edu

 

The OpenDocument format (ODF) is a file format for electronic office documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. While the specifications were originally developed by Sun, the standard was developed by the Open Office XML technical committee of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) consortium and based on the XML format originally created and implemented by the OpenOffice.org office suite (see OpenOffice.org XML). In addition to being a free and open OASIS standard, it is published (in one of its version 1.0 manifestations) as an ISO/IEC international standard.

From Wikipedia

The One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. Its mission is "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning." Its current focus is on the development, construction and deployment of the XO-1 laptop.

From Wikipedia

Software for which both the executable form and the source code are made available and may be copied and distributed without charge and used for any purpose. For a full definition, see http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it.

Open Standards are a set of principles and practices that cover these areas:
   1.      Availability
   2.      Maximize End-User Choice
   3.      No Royalty
   4.      No Discrimination
   5.      Extension or Subset
   6.      Predatory Practices
http://perens.com/OpenStandards/Definition.html

A methodology for evaluating FOSS projects.

Several methodologies have been proposed to evaluate free or open source software.  Some such as OpenBRR emphasise maturity, others the organisational structure of the development group.

http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/osmm.xml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software_assessment_methodologies

A collection of open source software (OSS) for the Microsoft Windows operating system.

OpenDisc is a collection of open source software  for the Microsoft Windows operating system.  The majority of programs featured on OpenDisc are also available for GNU/Linux. The OpenEducationDisc is a variant of the OpenDisc format designed for education. The objective is to provide students with the software that they need to complete school work at home.

http://www.theopendisc.com/

The software that controls the hardware and software applications on a computer.

The OS (Operating System) is the collection of software that controls the hardware and software applications on a computer. The OS manages and allocates the physical resources (CPU processing time, hard disk space, inputs from the keyboard, etc.) among the different applications that run on it. Examples of an OS are Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X.

A methodology for evaluating FOSS projects.

Several methodologies have been proposed to evaluate and assess free or open source software.  Some emphasise maturity, others the organisational structure of the development group.

http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/osmm.xml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software_assessment_methodologies

A methodology for evaluating FOSS projects.

Several methodologies have been proposed to evaluate and assess free or open source software.  Some emphasise maturity, others the organisational structure of the development group.
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/osmm.xml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software_assessment_methodologies

As in root user, root privileges - the most powerful administrative account on a Unix like operating system.

GNU/Linux is designed as a multi-user environment, where specific users are granted defined permissions. The root user has complete control over the computer system. In many cases logging in as root is discouraged, and users log in with conventional accounts and then execute a command to gain root privileges.

A repository for many free software projects.

GNU Savannah is a project of the Free Software Foundation, which serves as a collaborative software development management system for Free Software projects. Savannah currently offers CVS, GNU arch, mailing list, web hosting, file hosting, and bug tracking services.

Savannah's website is split into two domain names: savannah.gnu.org for software that is officially part of the GNU Project, and savannah.nongnu.org for all other software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Free_Software_Hosting_Facilities

Shareable Content Object Reference Model.

A framework allowing content to be loaded into different Virtual Learning Environments.

SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) is an XML-based framework that is intended to allow interoperability, accessibility and re usability of learning content.
Learning content created in SCORM can, in theory, be shared among different Virtual Learning Environments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCORM

A computer that provides services to other computers.

A server is a computer that provides resources or services to other computers. Though servers are often powerful and purpose built, in many applications this is not necessary. A computer that is used for only one server application is often named as such. For example, when the software Apache HTTP Server is used as the web server for a company's website, the computer running Apache is also called the web server.

The programming instructions in a human readable form,

The source code of the software is the set of programming instructions that is written by the programmer using a particular computer language. In order for the computer to understand and run the software, the source code must be compiled or "translated" into machine code (also referred to as binary code, executable code or object code). To modify the software, the source code must be available for modifications, as the machine code is not human-readable.

SourceForge.net is a source code repository. A large number of open source projects are hosted on the site.  It had reached 178,832 projects and 1,861,990 registered users as of 2008, although it does contain many dormant or single-user projects).

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Free_Software_Hosting_Facilities

http://sourceforge.net

A measurement of the cost of owning a system over a period of time.

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) includes all of the costs involved in a technology or business solution. In addition to the initial investment cost, such costs include maintenance, support, replacement costs, and the like. In the case of software, the TCO should include the initial cost of the software; upgrade cost; and maintenance, support and training costs.

See http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=25907 for Becta's 2005 study of TCO implications of open source software in schools.

A type of desktop computer which use low power terminals that connect to a server which does most of the work.

Thin clients are computers that have a minimum of computing power, handling monitor, keyboard, mouse and some local devices. The client connects to a server that has more processing power and runs the programs.  Free Software thin clients systems include the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) and the use of X terminals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_terminal
 

The way the user interacts with the computer.

The information presented by the computer, along with the inputs from the user make up the User Interface. There are graphical and text interfaces. KDE and GNOME are two major desktop environments that make up a large part of the User Interface on GNU/Linux systems.

A way of presenting and controlling course delivery over the Internet. A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) allows courses to be published for learners through the Internet. Learners' progress can be monitored and feedback given. They provide a collection of tools such as those for assessment (particularly of types that can be marked automatically, such as multiple choice), communication, uploading of content, return of students' work, peer assessment, administration of student groups, collecting and organizing student grades, questionnaires, tracking tools, etc. A well known free software VLE is Moodle.

The Web Browser is an application that presents information from a web site to the user. There are a wide range of FOSS web browsers, of which Mozilla Firefox is the best known.  Other web browsers include Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Apple's Safari.

A collaborative website development system.

Wikis are web based systems that allow users to edit the content on the web site through their web browser with a simplified mark up language. Some wikis can be configured to require the user to log in before editing the site. They can be used to create collaborative websites with a flexible format.  Popular wikis include TikiWiki, Pmwiki and MediaWiki – which was developed for Wikipedia.

An open content on-line encyclopaedia.

Wikipedia is a free, multilingual, open content encyclopaedia project operated by the United States-based non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites) and encyclopaedia. Launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it attempts to collect and summarize all human knowledge in every major language.  Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites, attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About