I.1 The Best of All Possible Worlds...

[ Team LiB ]

I.1 The Best of All Possible Worlds... Using free Open Source programs, a web site can be created for the truly amazing price of $0.00�zero, nada, zilch. [3] You can download Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/PHP to develop world-class, powerful, and useful web sites�thus the acronym, and the LAMP that will light our way. Of course, you could spend as much money as you like and get a web site running with commercial software, but we think there are good reasons, aside from initial and ongoing expenses, to use free Open Source solutions. [3] Well, no cash outlay and a bunch of mental elbow grease, anyway; and, of course, there are obvious issues to take up with your ISP should your web site become popular. One common criticism of Open Source as a solution is that it's only free if your time isn't worth anything. This is true in one sense, but not in another. All software�free or commercial, Open Source or closed�takes time and effort to learn and to apply. The following are several reasons this book should be a valuable resource as you turn to Open Source software: It distills the essential knowledge needed to create a good, secure, standards-compliant, Open Source web site in one place. It provides alternatives to commercial solutions. It documents widely used Open Source programs. It shares the fun we've had using Open Source software.

[ Team LiB ]