Open Sources

After talking about open sourcing I was thinking about all the programs I use on my computer and all of the programs I rely for on the web. I use Microsoft Office obviously, Itunes, but I can't think of any other software I have bought to use on my computer. I have used an online photobucket similar to that of Flickr, can't remember the name though, I've constantly use online dictionaries and despite my argument in class, I'm a major supporter/user of Wikipedia.

I still however feel uneasy about relying completely on open sourcing for all of my computer work. Take Microsoft Office for example. I know when I buy the CD that it comes with a ready help number (that is programmed into my phone, just kidding), with the familiarity that I have used the program before and trust the brand, and with the reassurance that I can still crowd-source for information even if it is a licensed program. On the other hand, there are extremely stringent protection laws against using this program in multiple computers and that gets pretty pricey. So...

I found that using an online Photobucket for my pictures when I was in Rome was a cool way to store, edit and share pictures to many people with the copying and pasting of a simple link. However, I had to be cautious of this because I didn't want this link ending up where anyone could see my pictures and I didn't want my pictures out there for the world to see, only those I selected.

I guess the idea of open sourcing is out there and waiting for us to catch up to technology and its many evolutions. The idea of putting anything online is scary and unique because we trust that we can read the information, but unless you are a top-notch FBI, secret computer code-reader, you never really know who else is reading this information. For example, I may never know everyone who reads this blog post and I have to be cautious not to trust the internet too much and send too much information into the unknown of cyberspace.