Software Policy

Open source software policy:

The objects of Bristol Wireless (henceforth "we/us/our"), as stated in our rules, include: "Promoting the values and practice of... Open source". To this end all employees and volunteers working for us are required to abide by this policy.

What is open source?

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) describes open source as follows:

Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.

See the full Open Source Definition for details.

How do we promote open source?

We only install and support open source software on any machine which passes through our hands.

We aim to educate people whom we come into contact with both about the benefits of open source in general and in the use of particular open source packages appropriate to their needs.

In particular we do not install or support either the Microsoft Windows operating system or any non open source applications, from Microsoft or any other vendor.

Where people are seeking support for non open source applications we will firstly strive to promote a viable open source alternative. Where such an alternative is deemed unacceptable we may refer them to a third party prepared to offer the required support.

Exceptions

The only permitted exceptions to this policy are the installation and support of non-open source software included in the Bristol Wireless distro.