Mission Possible: Bridging the Gap Between Open Source and Education

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Aug. 12, 2013 - PRLog -- 7 Media Web Solutions, LLC has restructured its business model and is currently on a new mission. “What is this new mission,” you ask? The company’s new mission is summed up in its threefold mission statement:

7 Media Web Solutions, LLC seeks to be the go to company for open source PHP web based education software; seeks to provide outstanding support and high quality products that help facilitate an institution’s daily needs, and seeks to build strong and lasting relationships with those institutions.

Therefore the ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between open source and education.

In conducting some web research, open source software has increased exponentially in the education sector in the past eight years or so. However, there are still some misconceptions regarding open source software in general. In an article posted on theguardian (http://www.theguardian.com/us) entitled, “Open source in higher education: how far have we come,” it states that “50% of higher education institutions [are using open source software either via the web or desktop]."¹ If this is true, then it begs the question as to why there are still some misconceptions in regards to using open source software. Again, theguardian answers this question, and states that the hesitation seems to be focused around security.

However, the reality is that open source software is no worse or better than proprietary software with regards to security. Nevertheless, with open source software, when a vulnerability is detected from a user in the community, a quick patch can be submitted. On the other side, you may have to play the waiting game for a new patch when using proprietary software.

So, what is 7 Media’s role in all of this? 7 Media is dedicating time and effort to build secure open source PHP powered software to share with the education community. Joshua Parker, who is the Founder and CEO of 7 Media states, “there are tremendous benefits to using and supporting open source software. Such benefits includes the innovation and creativity that comes from the community and the permission to use and change the code without restrictions.” Moreover, there is a tremendous benefit to using open source software in education: Why should open source software be used in schools? (http://edge-op.org/grouch/schools.html)

7 Media is hopeful that in the near future, open source software will be taking the education sector by storm, and plans to be one of the companies spear heading the revolution.

About 7 Media Web Solutions, LLC
7 Media is a PHP development and consulting company specializing in open source PHP web based applications for educational institutions.

Sources
1. “Open source in higher education: how far have we come?”, http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/mar/28/open-source-universities-development-jisc