OSS for companies: Glossary

Starting the report from the beginning

IV-2 Glossary

Copyleft:It is a legal instrument that requires those who pass on a program to include the rights to use, modify, and redistribute the code; the code and the freedoms become legally inseparable.

Open source: means the source code is available to the users.

Operating system (OS) : is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources.

Proprietary software: is computer software with restrictions on copying and modifying placed on it by the creator or distributor.

Source code: the intelligible and understandable version by a human being of a computer programme.

Ubuntu/Linux:Ubuntu is in fact a whole operating system Linux for PC. The basic system and all the software which are with it are available freely .A help is available trough the community, or by professional support providers. « Ubuntu » is an old African word which means "humanity by caring about the next generation". Ubuntu also means « I am what I am beacuse of everthing we we are ».

Unix: is a computer operating systyem

OSS for companies: References

IV-ANNEX

IV-1 References:


« Livret du Libre » 2nd edition
« Pouvez-vous faire confiance à votre ordinateur ? » Richard M. Stallman 21th October 2002
« The cathedral and the bazar » Eric Steven Raymond 11/08/1998
"Open Source in the enterprise, new software disrupts the technology stack" Joe McKendrick,Research Analyst,September 2007
"Le Site du zéro" http://www.siteduzero.com/tuto-3-8384-1-mais-c-est-quoi-linux.html#ss_part_1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Windows_and_Linux
“Open Source Software: pros and cons” ELAG Workshop #10
http://opensourcecommunity.org

OSS for companies: Conclusion

III-CONCLUSION

As a conclusion we should mention the future of Open Source solutions.

As we saw no one denies it Open Source solutions will grow up in the coming years.

This phenomenon is quite strange because we discovered that Open Source was the beginning of the computer science then come the proprietary software which destroyed everything.

And now we are facing a sluggish reverse effect that we cannot imagine favorable to proprietary software.

However, as I just wrote this wave is sluggish and Open Source is not a revolution.Companies need time...a lot of time. In most cases, fewer than 10 percent of enterprise application portfolios are supported or interact with open-source systems.

It appears that as we could imagine price is the first motivation to acquire Open Source solutions inside a company.

This repoIt shows also that two criticals points are made to Open Source: the security and the support.

On the other hand proprietary software costs in terms of licence,security(viruses) and lock in vendors strategy.

Open Source is not the IT solution for the company this is an alternative which needs to define a specific strategy to integrate it.

OSS for companies: Why people are participating in FOSS communities?

II-6 Why people are participating in FOSS communities?

1st Learn and develop new skills

This is a concept which can be quite strange for someone who has taken the habits of using commercial package.With Open Source solutions you have to understand and try to learn by yourself then if you are really in a mess the community will be here to help you.

A good example of this is when you go on a IT discussion and ask to people to solve your problem directly.Most of the time they don't give you the code or fix your problems they will instead give you some clues to fix it by yourself.

In Open Source there is this philosophy of learning by yourself.The self improvement that we hardly ever find in commercial solution.

2nd Share knowledge and skills

When I began to code in my second year at the university I remember this guy who helps me through the net and explained me how to fix my problem.He corrected all my code.I was in trouble for this code and had to send it in some hours.This guy fixed everything and told me that one day he was in the same situation and someone else did exactly what he was doing now:provide me an emergency solution.

It was great to have this sharing of knowledge with him.

3rd Improve job opportunities

This is a fact which can be proved very easily.The more a technology makes some noise the more you need some people competent in this area.As a matter of facts it creates more and more job opportunities.

4th Derive direct income from this participation


5th Derive indirect income

Such as getting a job unrelated to free software thanks to their previous or current participation in free software developer communities

6th Intellectually stimulating

Computer is a science where it is quite easy to see your progress.When you learn something by yourself and that you can concretly see what you learn this is intellectually stimulating.

I can take for example the case of the French website "Le site du zéro" which give you some material to learn some computer and basic languages such XHTML,PHP,C/C++ and teach you how to use Linux or to set up a website.

When you learn how to make your website step by step it's incredible because you can see your project growing from your first page,first sentence,first picture to how to put your website on Internet.

That kind of experience is intellectually stimulating.

7th Code should be open

This point comes from an ethical point of view which is that: knowledge,culture should have no price.

OSS for companies: Who are the FOSS providers?

II-5 Who are the FOSS providers?

Because a company has to know who provides ICT I choose to develop this point.

FOSS providers can be anyone I mean any business or individual in business.You can find a lot of them through the net.

Because charging you for the software is contrary to the principle of the Open Source they will instead charge you for the support and the maintenance of the system.

OSS for companies: How to migrate to FOSS?

II-4 How to migrate to FOSS?

I found the plan of this part on a PDF file I downloaded on the Internet untitled ELAG Workshop #10“Open Source Software: pros and cons” I modified and far developed it.

Before starting companies should have a clear understanding of the reasons to migrate, and a good knowledge on implementation scenarios;

1st Companies should ensure that there is an active support for the change from IT staff and
users:

Do my IT department is competent for the new tasks I am going to give them?
Do they follow me in my strategy?(this is them before all who are going to install and deal with these new technologies)
Do the users(for example clerks in my company) are ready to get over this step?


2nd Companies should ensure that there is a champion for change - the higher up in the organisation the better it is;

Do I have a manager or a high ranked officer able to change it in the best way?

To sum up these two points: the right question is "Do I have the right guys in my company to do this?"

3rd Build up expertise and relationships with the FOSS movement;

By including FOSS your company will start from scratch in this area and have to integrate some rules such as the community.FOSS is a cultural shock.Your company has to understand how does it works.For example in most of the cases this a relation between a human being to a human being and not a vendor to customer.

To sum up this point: you enter in a new field so be as much inform as you can on it and begin to build your own base of knowledge.

4th Start with non critical systems;

This is what we saw in the first part of the report:43% of large companies run between 1 to 9% of their applications under Open Source solutions.These companies are moving step by step and making their own experience on Open Source.

As a principle of prudence large companies wait to have enough experience with Open Source before to integrate them far deeper.

Small companies have less to risk in this integration this is why 24% of them integrate more than 50% of their open source applications.

5th Ensure that each step in the migration is manageable.

This step is proper to any ICT integration your company has to control all the process of the migration.Managers of ICT have to keep the IT governance and understand what is going on in the migration.

6th Monitor user feedback and fix any problems which arise.

This point is linked to a previous one which is to create your own base of knowledge regarding FOSS.This is usefull when your company needs some support.Support being one of the leakest link of the FOSS.

7th Explain the benefits which your organisation will earn after migration.

This point is linked to the justification of the acquisition of ICT.In the case of FOSS the main benefit that we can see and which is easy to justify is the cost.Now where managers or CEO have to be good at is to prove or acquire the right FOSS solutions which can provide the same or a better quality that the previous solution the company used.

OSS for companies: Pros and cons of adopting Open Sources for your company

II-3 Pros and cons of adopting Open Sources for your company

Pros	Cons
Customization - Ability to rewrite, customize, or adapt code.Fundamental control and flexibility advantages, the users can modify and maintain the software.	Choice of programs – the range of FOSS programs are less developed than commercial ones.Specific necessary software isn't mature.
Security - FOSS products at least provide users with the option of detailed review of the source code, and to fix problems themselves without waiting for the vendor.	Security - Here is the main reproach done to Open Source solution.Everyone can see how your software has been made.This is the biggest brake among large companies.You expect the code to be trustfull but if it is not?
Localization - FOSS can be trivially localized, a critical advantage where there are languages with a smaller number of speakers.	Localization - Commercial products are developed faster.
Cost – FOSS costs nothing in terms of acquiring the software.It can be obtained through direct downloading on internet.The cost is the main reason of the attractiveness.	Cost – Huge hidden costs in terms of personnel costs for installation,training and maintenance( recruiting appropriate skills)
Support -The FOSS community provides an extremely efficient learning environment, and a huge source of help information	Support - -Lack of large companies offering enterprise-level solutions,support and training on FOSS prevent its adoption by large companies.For example less chance to get a 24x7 support. -To get support you need to understand the culture of FOSS and the tacit rules of the community. -Enterprise support not as robust as commercial packages
Freedom from vendor lock in: Imagine that your IT provider goes away.who can support and maintain the software he made for you?...no one because the source code is hidden. An open source code will solve this lock in situation.With OpenSource solutions you are then independant from your IT provider.	Communication - Commercial vendors are the main supporters of the library meetings, workshops, conferences.
	Copy – For example your competitor can make an exact copy of the software or website you developed.Your competitors see the work you make on IT.

OSS for companies: Linux versus Windows

II-2.2.3-Linux versus Windows

"Historically, Windows has tended to dominate in the desktop and personal computer markets (about 90% of the desktop market share), and Linux has achieved between 50─80% market share of the web-server, render farm and supercomputer markets .They differ in philosophy, cost, ease of use, versatility, and stability, with each seeking to improve in their perceived weak areas. " extract from Wikipedia

Here are some areas we should focus our analysis on:

-philosophy
-cost
-ease of use
-stability
-installation
-security.

For this part I could have made a copy of the very detailed analysis provided by Wikipedia on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Windows_and_Linux but I think everything could be easier if I made a simpliest one:

	Windows	Linux
Installation	Within one hour you can install Windows XP on your PC	After two days of trying I am still fighting for the installation of Ubuntu/Linux which has the reputation to be the easiest version to install.I am scared to death that I will have to throw away my PC in case of a bad installation.
Philosophy	Proprietary software.This software belongs to you and only you.You have the right to expect from this software the best it should provide you. It is forbidden to copy,modify and redistribute it.	Open Source software.This software is the result of volunteering as a result you have to understand that people who made it are not on your order and that one day you should have to contribute to the community or at least to consider them.
Cost	Family edition of Win XP:139€	Free
Ease of use	Because Windows is pre installed on almost all the computers sold in the world it is to my point of view the most easiest OS.	It has the reputation to be very technical even if they try to simplify it as much as they can.This is why most of the companies are reluctant to use it.
Stability	Windows is based on MS DOS which has the reputation of being less stable than Unix.It means that there is more chance that your system crash under Windows than on Linux.	Linux is based on Unix. Mac OS is also based on Unix
Security	A lot of viruses detected which caused some serious damages	Few viruses detected and none serious attack detected
Support	Based on companies.You have to expect that they can solve your problem.	Mainly based on a community.You hope that they can solve your problem or give you the key to solve it by yourself.

OSS for companies: Main complaints about Linux

II-2.2.2- Main complaints about Linux

Before developing this part all user of Linux should know one thing:

Linux is not Windows under a free license

"It is logically impossible for any thing to be better than any other thing while remaining completely identical to it. A perfect copy may be equal, but it can never surpass. So when you gave Linux a try in hopes that it would be better, you were inescapably hoping that it would be different. Too many people ignore this fact, and hold up every difference between the two OSes as a Linux failure. "
Firefox was successful because it was better than IE, and it was better because it was different.
1st complaint: Linux isn't exactly the same as Windows
This complaint comes with the citation I copied above.Most of the people want to acquire a free legal software of Windows.Because they cannot find one they think about the Linux alternative and hope to find some Windows inside Linux.As we saw above Linux is not Windows under a free license.
2nd complaint: Linux is too different from Windows
To explain this complaint we could identify these two operating system as ways of transportation.For example imagine that Windows is a car and Linux a motocycle.Both of them provide you in a certain way the same service:to move you from A to B.They have a lot of common points(need some oil to run,you need to indicate when you turn etc...).
But they are different in many points(you don't drive your motocycle in the same way as you drive your car).
Users expect to drive a new car with Linux...whereas they have to pass their motocycle license.
I admit that this comparison is a bit too simple but the main idea of this complaint is right there.
3rd complaint: Culture shock
This complaint is also very interesting to analyze.
"Windows users are more or less in a customer-supplier relationship: They pay for software, for warranties, for support, and so on. They expect software to have a certain level of usability. They are therefore used to having rights with their software: They have paid for technical support and have every right to demand that they receive it. They are also used to dealing with entities rather than people: Their contracts are with a company, not with a person."
Linux users are in a community relationship. As a peer they don't buy the software, they don't have to pay for technical support. They download software for free & use Instant Messaging and web-based forums to get help. They deal with people, not corporations.
4th complaint:Linux is too technical
One slogan of Linux is interesting to analyze:
"By geeks, for geeks."
Most of the Linux users are geeks.
It's an open-source, fully-customizeable set of software. That's the whole point. If you don't want to hack the components a bit, why bother to use it?

OSS for companies: Linux

II-2.2-Linux


Maybe the most famous Open Source solution heard in the world but also maybe the one that most people speak about it without knowing what it really is.In this part we are going to discover this software and make a comparison between it and the giant Microsoft Windows.

II-2.2.1-Presentation of Linux

Linux or more officially under his real name GNU/Linux is an operating system such as Microsoft Windows.His logo is a penguin.This animal is to my point of view the symbol of the Open Source phenomenon.

Linux has the reputation to be cheap(actually it's free whereas Microsoft Windows is around 200 to 300 euros) and quite technical(this is one who scare the non IT specialists).

Finding some good and easy information about Linux is quite hard.The best source of information I found is on a French website called "Le site du zéro" which explains in a very simple way what is it and how to install it.

Linux is a huge software.It is distributed under a lot of names which have each of them some specific characteristics,here are some of the most famous:

Each of these distributions have a specific use,for example Ubuntu has the reputation to be the easiest version of Linux so for non IT specialist.Linux/Ubuntu is for people who are not use to work on a Linux environment whereas some versions which are more technical are more for computer programmers such as the RedHat distribution.

As a very simple comparison under Windows we will have such a scheme:

This scheme could be far developed for example under XP professional it exists also the pack for Small and Medium companies.

Here is the repartition of Operating System in France for professionals.

Système d'exploitation des postes de travail des professionnels français

Système d'exploitation	PdM septembre 2005PdM août 2005	Evolution
Windows	87,3%88,9%	-1,6%
Mac OS	3,0%2,5%	+0,5%
Linux	1,1%0,9%	+0,2%
Autres	8,6%7,7%	+0,9%

Source Benchmark Group

As we can see Linux is not a revolution but it is still taking some market shares on Microsoft Windows.

OSS for companies: Advantages and drawbacks

II-2.1.3-Advantages and drawbacks

The main advantage of this solution is that it is free.

The second advantage is that it has more functionalities that the other main suite office software:Microsoft Office.

The main drawback is that the format of the openoffice documents is not recognized by the Microsoft Office software.

For example a Writer document cannot be read by the Word software of Microsoft whereas a Word document of Microsoft can be read by a Writer OpenOffice software.

Another drawback is when an user swift from Microsoft Office to Open Office there is a delay of adaptation because even if Open Office seems as the first sight of a perfect copy,it has still some differences.These differences are for example some names,some added functionalities etc...

I read also that companies such as Microsoft prefer to have people who use some pirate copies of their software instead of using open source solutions which use a different state of mind and a different way of using the software.

OSS for companies: Price of the software and consequences of it

II-2.1.2-Price of the software and consequences of it


139 euros is the price of the suite office of Windows.

0 euros is the price of the OpenOffice suite office which contained the same functionalities as Microsoft Office but with two extra applications.

Because of this high difference of price, the use of OpenOffice.org comes to be more and more generalized, this is for example the case in the French admnistration

Some figures found on the Internet said that in 2004 OpenOffice had 14,3% of the market according to a Forrester Reserch study made on140 large North American companies .

OpenOffice.org becomes progressively a reference suite office software in the field of education,admnistration and the professional world.

OSS for companies: Open Office

II-2.1-Open Office

Because Open Office is to my point of view the software which the most used by public basic user(people which are not IT specialist) I think it has his place in this report

II-2.1.1-Presentation of the software

I will describe the Open Office software as an office suite with a lot of common points with the Microsoft Office software with exactly the same functionalities.

For example in this software you find the equivalent of Excel,PowerPoint,Word,Access of Microsoft Windows.

They are respectively named Calc,Impress,Writer,Base under Open Office and two others applications are added: Math(create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing formulas into the equation editor) and Draw(produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations).

OSS for companies: Some examples of some Open Source solutions(Linux,OpenOffice)

II-2 Some examples of some Open Source solutions(Linux,OpenOffice)


In the previous part we saw the figures about nowadays OpenSource situation inside companies.I would like now to introduce some Open Source software in order to see concretly what it is and then to guess step by step the pros and cons of choosing this solution as an alternative to proprietary software.

OSS for companies: Trends towards the Open Source Applications in the coming years

II-1.2 Trends towards the Open Source Applications in the coming years

Source:http://www.ioug.org/IOUG_Open_Source_07.pdf

As we can see open source adoption will keep growing over the coming year. A majority of respondents, 52 percent, say their use of open source software will increase over the coming year, versus only two percent that foresee decreased usage.

These figures show us that Open Source is not a revolution in the IT world.This is not the "Gold Rush" that we could have expected with 80% of increasing.

It could be interesting to analyze why we have only 8% of growth in terms of increase significantly and 44% of increase moderately instead of the opposite.

What are the brakes of this adoption can also be an interesting point to develop?

52% recognize that opensource is the future alternative for companies.

As we can see companies are ready to go towards the integration of Open Source solutions instead of decreasing them.Companies are more favorable to their integration.So we have here the recognition of this alternative.

However most of the companies are still prudent by integrating these solutions.They are not ready to migrate entirely to these solutions (Increase moderately: 39% and 46%).

There is also a big gap between the percentage of large companies which are ready to increase moderately the adoption of Open Source solution and the one which want to increase it significantly.

OSS for companies: Open Source Applications in companies

II-1.1 Open Source Applications in companies

All the graphics in this report have been taken from: http://www.ioug.org/IOUG_Open_Source_07.pdf

According to this report in 2006, companies which are running with a majority of Open Source applications is around 9%.In 2007 this percentage is around 13%.

A very simple and candid(because we just have two years to judge) analysis let make us say that there is a growth of open source applications inside companies.

According to this tab it is interesting to see that only 1% of large companies are running more than 50% of their applications under Open source whereas for small companies this percentage is around 24%

Another data is interesting: 43% of large companies are using between 1 to 9% of Open Source applications.

The analysis of these data give us some information.

1^st :There is good chance that Large companies recognized the fact that Open Source applications are a cost saving.

But don't trust them enough to make them running their all computer park.

On the other hand small companies seem recognize that equiping the company with Open source applications is a huge cost saving.

What can be interesting is to understand why there is such a big gap?

OSS for companies: What his today the place of Open Source solutions in companies?

II- OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS FOR COMPANIES


II-1 What his today the place of Open Source solutions in companies?


It is not that easy to evaluate with precision what is today the world use of Open Source solutions.However a lot of market research have been made on this topic by taking a panel of hundreds of companies.Most of the results of these different panel are coherent with each other
In this report I took as a panel the work done by the IOUG (Independant Oracle Users Group).They made a recent survey in 2007 .This survey takes is based on 226 companies from small and medium to large companies.

OSS for companies: Brief history of the open source phenomenon

I-3 Brief history of the open source phenomenon

When computer age began the computer science was one of the sciences in which researchers shared freely the source code of their programs.

In the early 80ies this tacit rule of knowledge sharing changed.Editors began to sell their first software without distributing the source code: "Proprietary software" for example any commercial software such as Microsoft Windows.

So before the 80ies everything was Open Source.The open source phenomenon that we are hearing everyday has nothing of a new topic or a revolution.

Open Source as we said before was the beginning of the computer software.

Open Source is before all a way of thinking, a philosophy as we are going to discover it.People which are making open source software believe that everybody has something to win by making that kind of solutions.

The copyleft is a good logo of this state of mind:

It clearly shows his opposition to the copyright.

Copyleft:a legal instrument that requires those who pass on a program to include the rights to use, modify, and redistribute the code; the code and the freedoms become legally inseparable.

OSS for companies: Open Source definition

I-2 Open Source definition

There are a lot of definitions about Open Source.The best and the easiest definition I found was the one I made by crossing some different sources of information.

This definition cannot be well done without the describing what we call the "source code".
The source code is the intelligible and understandable version by a human being of a computer programme.
This source code is written in a language called "programmation",known by programmers.It described with words and formulas how the software is precisely running.This source code is not directly usable by the computer, it is therefore translated in a machine code or executable code.

Because now we know what is the source code we can easily explain what "Open Source" means.

Open Source definition: the code source of the software is available to users.

As a comparison if the Open Source software was a dish you could know how it has been made(his composition in fact).

The Open Source definition includes also the possibility of modifying,improving and redistributing it.

The opposite of an open source software is a proprietary sofwtare.

Proprietary software is a computer software with restrictions on copying and modifying placed on it by the creator or distributor.

I think you understood that as a comparison if a proprietary software was a cooked dish , it would be impossible to know its composition,neither the way it had been cooked.And it would be forbidden to try to guess.Impossible to improve the way it had been made, and forbidden to give a piece of it to your friend who is starving to death.

OSS for companies: Why this report?

I- INTRODUCTION

I-1 Why this report?

This report has been written for the integration following the written exam passed of the Information and Communication Technology course attended at the University of Trento in year 2007.

I choose this topic for many reasons.First because I am an Open Source user and secondly because this is a nowadays topic.

Who never heard about Linux or OpenOffice?

Most of the time these solutions are used as an alternative of cost reduction which is closely connected to our ICT course which is to analyze IT on an economic point of view.

This report has been also made to know more about these two software and to analyze the acquisition of such IT solutions inside a company.

Moreover a lot of people are speaking about Linux without knowing what it is really,I was one of them before starting to make this report.This is why I developed one specific part to this solution.

For a personal point of view I was curious of discovering what is Linux and I was eager to have the time to study it.

This is for all of these reasons that I decided to study the opportunities of using Open Source solutions for companies.