There is a great review of the primer in the newest ICT Hub Circuit Rider Digest newsletter, from LASA. That newsletter, by the way, is also chock full of great information, so check it out.

Today, we're releasing the new version of the tried and true NOSI primer. "Choosing and Using Free and Open Source Software: A Primer for Nonprofits" is a no-nonsense, easy to read report that helps nonprofits understand what free and open source software (FOSS) is, what options are available for their organizations, and how they can access support for using FOSS.

The primer includes all of the basics, and also discusses how to look at TCO and strategic value in making decisions about FOSS. There are many case studies describing the use of various FOSS applications in the sector.

Fabulously, it also includes a live feed via API from Social Source Commons of a particular set of 5 FOSS toolboxes: software for the server, for the web, and for the three flavors of desktops, Windows, Mac and Linux.

The primer won't be printed this time - we have it in HTML format, and PDF. Please check out details on the update plans as well.

We're looking forward to your feedback and contributions!

I recently completed an interview with Tim of the "Social Source Commons":http://www.socialsourcecommons.org, about my "Recycle-A-Bicycle":http://www.recycleabicycle.org toolbox on SSC. You can't comment at SSC but you can at here--I'd love feedback about how you would have filled in the gaps that I filled with proprietary software. What I'd really like is to encourage the NOSI community to take a stab at creating a couple of toolboxes for NOSI. *Toolbox 1] The NPO Desktop:* if you do support or consulting work with a non-techie organization, or if you are actually staff at a non-profit that doesn't have a primarily technical mission, create a toolbox and put your whole desktop in it: what are the tools you use from day to day? I'd like to see a series of snapshots of real desktops. These Desktop Toolboxes could be a really great tool for all of us in understanding where the tools are that keep folks tied to proprietary operating system. Some of them we know (Quickbooks, Quickbooks, Quickbooks) but others we really don't know. So have at it: make a toolbox for your desktop or for a desktop you support, and tag it "NOSI_desktop_project":http://www.socialsourcecommons.org/tag/NOSI_desktop_project *Toolbox 2] The Free Software Desktop* this doesn't have to be a snapshot of a single organization, but I'd like to see the NOSI community start to articulate what you think is ready for active desktop use by non-technical users. Not non-technical like "how do I double click again" but non-technical like "that is nice, but I need to sort my spreadsheet now, so please go talk about this Ruby on Rails business at someone else's desk" Firefox and Thunderbird are easy, even OpenOffice.org is easy. So add them if you use them, support them, or recommend them, but what else do you use? GNU Cash? SQL Ledger? Do you actually layout your newsletter in Scribus or use something different? So that is the second toolbox I'd like to see. You can describe your toolbox, so add some context about how you chose the tools you're including and tag this one "NOSI_free_software_desktop":http://www.socialsourcecommons.org/tag/NOSI_free_software_desktop. And? Pass it on!

The primer, "Choosing and Using Open Source Software" was translated into Russian, by a Russian IBMer. We figured it was at least fun, and possibly informative, to provide it here. It's attached to this post.

The primer was mentioned in a list of useful resources for the nonprofit sector (sorry, they now have moved this link into subscriber only pages), that was published in the Wall Street Journal yesterday.