Hampshire College Favors Noncommercial Web Software Open to All

October 3, 2001

Most people never see the software behind a Web site. But a group of students and faculty and staff members at Hampshire College are nevertheless making some very deliberate decisions about the programs that run the college’s sites: They have to be nonproprietary programs with codes that the students or staff members can read, rewrite, and customize — not the secret, immutable codes owned by companies like Microsoft.