Tech Table Wednesday, July 23, 2014
July 23, 2014
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise it’ll be easy to digest. Well, hello there on this fine Wednesday.
Justin: It’s a fine, fine Wednesday. Today we’re talking about open source software.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: What is open source software? Wow. I didn’t even know what open source meant until I started at MPA.
Diana: Yeah. Well, we actually use a lot of open source software at MPA.
Justin: Right.
Diana: Most of the time, software is encoded so you can’t read it, and that means you can’t change it.
Justin: Right.
Diana: But open source software is readable and changeable by anyone who takes the time to learn how to do it. So, I mean, there’s a learning curve. Don’t think you just get in there and start making changes to stuff the same day.
Justin: Right.
Diana: But it is accessible, essentially.
Justin: Yeah, that’s very interesting. And it’s, I mean, this is obviously not a conversation topic for those of you that are new to…
Diana: Right. Well, we try to cover the bases for all levels of technical skill.
Justin: So, most open source software is created through a kind of community effort, and anyone that wants to contribute can. Many skeptics think that opening the source and not protecting the code is unworkable, utopian, sort of idealistic model. But in fact, open source software is responsible for powering most of the Internet today.
Diana: Right, you can’t have the Internet, the World Wide Web without open source software.
Justin: Right, it’s basically like sharing ideas and sharing how things, basically, this is the code that makes things work the way they do in technology.
Diana: Yeah, think of it like a community garden where everyone comes together, plants the seeds, works on the soil, and then has vegetables for the entire community.
Justin: Well, that’s interesting. So, can the open source concept be used in other ways? Does it have a place in everyday rural life? And there’s a group in Mayfield, Missouri that thinks it’s possible. This is really interesting.
Diana: Right here in the Midwest.
Justin: That’s right. So, the group is using open source software development methods to design and prototype machines. So, some of the machines they’re designing are tractors, micro-house, steam engine, car, truck, hay rake, baler, combines.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: That’s interesting.
Diana: As they work on these designs, they make the CAD files available, so that’s computer aided drafting so that anyone can actually download the designs, build prototypes, and then contribute to the design process.
Justin: It’s interesting.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: So they use commonly available materials in the build out of their designs. Granted, some of the designs require that you first build one machine, and then you can use that machine to build another machine. For example, you might first use the plans to create a 3D printer, and then use that 3D printer to fabricate parts for a car. Oh my goodness!
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: This is quite complicated, Diana.
Diana: This is pretty cool.
Justin: Yeah, it’s way past me. I can barely get my printer to work in general.
Diana: Now, why is this important? Here’s one thing. The group claims that it can produce a small utility tractor for about a fourth of the cost that you can get a comparable tractor new.
Justin: I bet John Deere’s not going to be happy to hear about that. But, no, it’s very interesting. There’s so many things happening right now.
Diana: Lot of possibilities.
Justin: And I mean, 3D printers are a whole other, I mean, we mentioned 3D printers here and they’re a whole other thing. I mean, they’re talking now about creating human limbs and things like that with 3D printer technology, like gene, I don’t know.
Diana: Wow.
Justin: It’s a bizarre, bizarre, kind of a scary thing. But you can do anything these days, I guess. Until next time.
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa, and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at AskMPA.com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com.
Justin: And thanks for listening.
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