FOS Desktop GIS notes

The document discusses free and open source desktop GIS software. It defines what free and open source software is, provides background on free GIS software, and evaluates 5 desktop GIS projects - GRASS, QGIS, uDig, OpenJUMP, and OrbisGIS. For each project discussed, it provides details on the operating systems supported, programming languages used, and license type. The document also covers advantages like no license fees and support for standards, and disadvantages like limited documentation and lack of long-term planning for some open source GIS projects.