Most technology users care little about the particulars of software they use — they just want it to stay our of their way and work. If people profess an opinion about something as mundane as an operating system — Mac or Windows — they are probably responding more to a social and branding identity than to the relative technical merits. So as a person who recommends and distribute technology solutions what does open source software offer me? If my users don’t care why should I?
I care because Open Source software offers the ability to customize and extend a piece of software to meet a unique combination of requirements. The best projects support an active community of contributors sharing ideas and solving problems, and that helps me get my job done faster and serve end-users better. Here is an example: Over the last couple of years we created an audio (and now video) library application for dialect coaching in our acting department. Students are required to purchase their own media player to utilize the playlists and other resources organized by the faculty through the site. And we really struggled with how to best distribute these files and provide a synch tool on our student lab computers. Eventually we settled on an iPod/iTunes delivery system, not because it was the best, but simply because it was the most popular.
I recently came across the open source project Songbird Media player. It is a player with an interface clearly inspired by iTunes but built on the Firefox codebase. Through the installation of add-ons the player can be set up to interface with multiple types of media players (not only iPods). As with the Firefox add-on community, there is a rich set of add-ons — and if you don’t see what you want you can adapt an existing one or create your own. There are SongBird versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even OpenSolaris. There is still plenty SongBird can’t do — i.e. no podcast subscription tool or CD ripping tool yet — but if the community wants those features badly enough they’ll come along sooner rather than later.
So SongBird right out of the box (or off the download) isn’t an ideal solution BUT it offers a means to readily configure it so that it is. iTunes in contrast in closed and does what Apple wants it to — which is mostly to sell music/videos/games and iPods/iTouch/iPhones. When a student wants to use one of our lab computers to download classwork from our site (built in Drupal by the way) onto their media player do they care what software they are using? No, but if it can’t synch to their Creative Zen they’ll care.
I care because a tool like SongBird, WordPress, Firefox, or Drupal gives me the flexibility to do what iTunes, Blackboard, Internet Explorer, etc. don’t — and that is adapt and extend the software based on the input and needs of a diverse community of users. SongBird design is user/community-centric, iTunes (as good and popular as it is) is Apple/commercial-centric. And as a user I find the design approach that puts my needs at the center the better solution.
Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond
…proprietary software made Microsoft one of the most successful companies of all time, it’s a model destined to fail because it doesn’t let software programmers cooperate and contribute, and thus stifles innovation.
Podcast Design Document – Phase 1 – Songbird Wiki
The goal of podcast support in Songbird (phase 1) is to offer application users the ability to subscribe to podcasts linked from webpages, automatically or manually acquire podcast episodes, and consume acquired podcast episodes. The functionality that this feature offers should be similar to iTunes and its design should be coherent with the application’s existing features.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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