Software (and documentation) wants to be free

If you hang out with me long enough you will come to realize my affinity with open source software (OSS). I am a firm believer in it and think that it levels the playing field, somewhat, between the "haves" and the "have nots" of this world. I have followed the One Laptop Per Child initiative with great interest and think that India and China, with their huge low-income populations and technical resources, will have a big role to play on the hardware side of things. Indeed, this is already happening in India at least. Well, I ran across an initiative that I think will be as important as the open source software movement.

One does not have to be perusing the availability of open source software long before they realize that the documentation that accompanies it is often not of the highest caliber. It may be too detailed for people like me, poorly organized, or non-existent. There is a foundation that is centered in the Netherlands that aims to change that. It is called FLOSS Manuals and it is a collection of information that explains how to use a wide range of free and open source software.

Not being a code monkey, or even a very good script kiddie, I see this as a way to contribute to the OSS movement in a substantial way. I had always thought of writing a portion of some documentation for a piece of OSS, but didn't quite know where to start. This foundation makes it possible to have an impact right away in this regard. It looks to be highly organized and is very specific about what OSS applications they want documentation for. That is a good thing for a scatterbrain like me.