The EU funded tOSSad project has published its final reports to the public. The complete collection of 15 documents, comprising over 600 pages, sheds light on the general economic and social benefits of Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS).  The reports propose ways to overcome national barriers of F/OSS adoption, discuss how to improve the usability of F/OSS, outlines a F/OSS curriculum for educational purposes and offer hands-on tips on setting up a Linux laboratory for schools.

“Free and Open Source Software is right on track in Europe”, says Kaan Erkan, Project Coordinator of tOSSad. “The time is ripe for mass adoption of F/OSS. Within our surveys and workshops we experienced many successful examples of F/OSS solving critical problems in entering the mass market. There is still a need for the continued improvement of usability and a better understanding of how to sell F/OSS to public administrations. In this respect the tOSSad reports provide in-depth information and useful guidelines for daily use. We welcome others to pick up on our suggestions and to help foster the use of Free and Open Source Software in Europe.”

All tOSSad reports are available for download from www.tossad.org/publications. A readers guide provides a brief summary of the most important reports: www.tossad.org/publications/highlights.

About tOSSad

The EU funded project tOSSad - towards Open Source Software adoption and dissemination - is a Coordination Action (CA). It aims to improve the outcomes of the Free / Open Source Software (F/OSS) communities throughout Europe by supporting the coordination and networking of these communities by means of state-of-the-art studies, national program initiations, usability cases and curriculum development. Find more information about tOSSad at www.tossad.org .

The list of 19 tOSSad partners ranges from well-known scientific institutions to F/OSS companies and organizations from all over Europe. Specific information about each partner is available at http://www.tossad.org/about/partners .

Disclaimer

The tOSSad project is part-funded by the European Commission under its IST Priority of the 6th Framework Programme. Any opinions expressed in these pages are those of the author/project and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Community.