Frequently Asked Questions - Software & Terminology
Questions about software, terminology and open-source.
The idealistic reason artists should use open-source software is that the open-source community and the artistic community share the concept of accessibility for the purpose of improvement or of the creation of something new.
The pragmatic reason artists should use open-source software is that open-source software is usually free. This allows artists to allocate their money to their other needs.
SourceForge is a software development web site for open-source software/projects. It offers many tools for open-source projects, but currently e-eAsel is using its file management and development-related tools. To ease the bandwidth on e-eAsel.org's servers and to increase the speed of downloads for users, all files will be distributed via SourceForge's network of download-mirrors.
The basic concept of open-source software is that the software is provided with the source code, allowing persons to make modifications to the software. Redistribution of open-source software is also not limited. For more detailed information, visit http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php. All applications and software mentioned in this website are open-source, and everything developed specifically for distribution via e-easel use the GNU General Public Licence (GPL).
Blogware is a type of Content Management System used specifically for the creation and management of blogs. A more thorough definition can be found in Wikipedia's definition of blogware.
A wiki is a type of website which can be modified easily. Wikis are often used for documentation. For more information, you can read the Wikipedia definition of wiki.
A Content Management System is just what it's called---software for managing content. Often it is software which is used to manage websites (such as this one). For a more thorough explanation of a CMS, please read the Content Management System entry on Wikipedia.
A blog (aka "weblog") is "a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order" (taken from the definition of "blog" on Wikipedia). Weblogs are typically used to post news or used as an online journal.