Free & Open Source Software Off The Grid

Abstract

This thesis project is an autoethnographic look at personally adopting Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) for a period of 8 weeks. During this period I made a switch to entirely FOSS both professionally and personally in hopes of exploring whether FOSS can be effectively used in everyday life. Furthermore, the project looks at what is involved in adopting FOSS and what benefits and/or drawbacks can be expected for individuals looking for alternatives to proprietary software. The daily experiences written about include those from my personal life and that of being a high school teacher performing daily tasks and instruction using only FOSS. A comparative analysis of the data collected is made between my prior experiences with proprietary software and that of FOSS used during this period.