Date of Defense

4-21-2006

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Dr. Alan Rea

Second Advisor

Dr. Kuanchin Chen

Third Advisor

Dr. Muhammad Razi

Abstract

This project is designed to investigate the use of open source software and utilize this software to create a database for GNP Acoustical. This honors thesis will focus on the history of open source software, the pros and cons of using this software, a brief look at open source vs. proprietary software, the open source maturity model and the specifics of major software packages in the open source field that could be used to complete this project. Open source software was chosen as the subject for this project because of its increasing popularity among worldwide corporations.

This project was going to initially be created using the Apache server and PHP scripting language to create a web based database. After reviewing the needs of GNP Acoustical, it was decided that a better route would be to use the MySQL Server and OpenOffice.org. Apache and PHP are still discussed in this paper because of their wide popularity within the open source community.

The database will be created and maintained using MySQL Server and MySQL Administrator and will be accessible to its user (George Patru) via forms created using OpenOffice.org. These software packages will be discussed in later sections. Following the software research, a thorough breakdown of the GNP Acoustical company and the specifics of the database implementation will be discussed.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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