Page 57 - digitalliteracy

2.3 Software: Your Tools for Success

Google is able to offer its Drive applications for free because they are open-source software,
which means that they can be “freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified
form) by anyone” (Open Source Initiative, n.d., para. 2). Microsoft Office and Apple iWork, on
the other hand, are proprietary software, which means they are owned and controlled by
their creator. Open-source software has become very popular because it is also used on many
mobile devices. When you purchase proprietary software, you do not own it; you are buying
a license to use it under certain terms and restrictions (Savage & Vogel, 2009). It is illegal to
access, copy, modify, or share proprietary software. For example, if a friend wants a copy of
your Microsoft Word software, you would be breaking the law if you copied it or allowed them
to do so. This is not the case with open-source software. To learn more about open source
software, visit http://www.opensource.org.

Saving Your Work in the Cloud

Imagine you are writing a final paper for one of your classes. A big winter storm just blew
in, and you are afraid your computer might crash. You have been working on this paper for
weeks, and you want to make absolutely sure you do not lose it. You can always save your
work to a device like a computer hard drive, CD-ROM disk, or a USB memory device/flash
drive (be sure to complete the inter-
active feature in your e-book if you
are unfamiliar with these methods).
Another option is to save your work
to cloud storage, or the cloud, which
uses the Internet and remote servers
to store data. Cloud storage options
go by a number of different names,
including OpenDrive, OneDrive, iCloud
Drive, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Just-
Cloud, Bitcasa, and Dropbox.

Advantages of cloud storage are that
your information is password pro-
tected, you can make sure you always
have the latest version of a file, you milindri/iStock/Thinkstock
can access and edit files from different Storing work in the cloud means you can access the
electronic devices, and you can easily latest version of a file from a shared computer, per-
share files with others. sonal laptop, smartphone, or any electronic device.

Here are a few easy options for accessing cloud storage:

1. If your computer uses the Windows operating system, download OpenDrive from
the following website: http://www.opendrive.com/apps/windows. Watch the video
at the following link to learn how to use OpenDrive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJJyNLgOsc
2. If you use an Apple computer, save your files to the iCloud Drive for cloud storage.
The following video demonstrates the features of iCloud Drive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0UNbakI9ao

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