Free & Open Source Software
Victoria Tan & Ameel Zia Khan
Information Strategy Seminar (15 November, 2007)
Presentation Overview
› What is Free & Open Source Software (FOSS)?
– History, philosophy, how it works
– Pros & cons
– Examples
› The Business Case for FOSS
– ROI calculations
– Usage trends
Brief History
› Free Software:
– 1983: Richard Stallman launches GNU project
• To create “a sufficient body of software […] to get along
without any software that is not free” [1]
– 1985: Stallman starts Free Software Foundation (FSF)
› Open Source Software:
– 1998: Netscape releases its source code under
Netscape Public License
• In response to Microsoft making Internet Explorer free
– 1998: Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond’s start Open
Source Initiative (OSI)
Sources: [1] The GNU Manifesto, FSF Website, Wikipedia
How Does It Work?
› Developer gets an idea, “scratches that itch”
– “Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a
(free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.”
– Linus Trovalds, creator of Linux in 1991 [1]
› Uploads code to a place where others can access it
– For example, SourceForge or FreshMeat
› The code is published under an open source license
– Such as GPL, the GNU Public License
Sources: ONLamp.com (O’Reilly), [1] ComputerHope.com
How Does It Work?
› Informal process of software development commences
– Ideas shared, trial and error, software improves
– Software changes direction
› Software gets “finished” or is forgotten
– Linux, Apache, Firefox maintained by thousands
– Others maintained (if that) by one or two people
› Developers come and go, project becomes active or
dormant
– Unless someone takes responsibility for maintaining it
(e.g. Red Hat, Apache Foundation, Mozilla.org, etc.)
Open Source Philosophy
› Users should be treated as co-developers
– Linus’ Law: “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”
› Release early versions quickly
› Have frequent integrations into the rest of the code
› Have several versions of the software
– Stable and buggier versions
› Have high modularity
› Have a dynamic decision-making structure
Sources: Wikipedia, Gregorio Robles, Eric S. Raymond
The Good, The Bad…
› Pros › Cons
– License is free – Many versions, vendors
– No vendor lock-in – Fear or no one to blame
– Large developer base – Fewer features
– Community support – Limited desktop use (for now)
– More reliable – Limited marketing
– More secure – May have limited interoperability
– More flexible – Documentation quality varies
– More localization (i.e.
more multi-lingual)
Source: Business Horizons, OSS Watch
…The Ugly
› Myths
– Attraction is price tag
– Savings aren’t real
– There’s no support
– It’s a legal minefield
– It’s insane for mission-critical applications
• Funny, since over 50% of FOSS use is in this area
– It isn’t ready for the desktop
• 26% of surveyed companies are using it on the desktop
Source: CIO Magazine, Forrester (March 2007)
Popular FOSS Examples
› Servers, Middleware › Desktop
– Apache, Squid – Firefox, Thunderbird
– BIND, Sendmail – OpenOffice.org
– JBOSS, Tomcat – LimeWire, BitTorrent
– MySQL › Content Management
› Operating Systems – Drupal, TYPO3
– Linux (and variants) – MediaWiki, WordPress
› Languages › Other
– Perl, Python, PHP – Sugar CRM
– Ruby on Rails
The Business Case for FOSS
Return on Investment: Software Only
Microsoft Linux/FOSS Savings
Solution Solution
Company A: 50 Users $87,988 $80 $87,908
Company B: 100 Users $136,734 $80 $136,654
Company C: 250 Users $282,974 $80 $282,894
Source: UNDP-APDIP (also for next two slides)
ROI: Microsoft Solution Software Cost
ROI: FOSS Solution Software Cost
ROI: Including Training & Switching Costs
Source: Open Source Academy, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Bristol City Council
Trends
› FOSS is moving up the software stack (i.e. from the
server level to the desktop)
– From Linux & MySQL to Firefox & OpenOffice.org
› Is used frequently within business departments but
not across the enterprise
› There is an increased interest is FOSS at all levels of
the organization
Source: Optaros
FOSS Usage: Large Organizations
Source: Optaros
FOSS Usage: Mid-Sized Organizations
Source: Optaros
FOSS Usage
Source: Forrester (March 2007)
Reasons for Use
Source: Forrester (March, 2007)
Some Numbers
› FOSS saved companies money in 2004:
– Large companies (>$1b revenues): $3.3m
– Mid-sized companies ($50m to $1b): $1.1m
– Small companies (<$50m): $0.5m
› 33% of 600 companies surveyed in 2006 used open
source databases
› 50% of web servers on the Internet in October, 2007
use Apache
Source: Optaros, IDC, Netcraft
Cost Impact
Benefit By Industry
Biggest Barriers
› Executives lack knowledge about benefits, have
quality and support fears
› Legal and licensing issues
› Corporate cost allocation policies don’t incentivize
reduction in cost of commercial software
› Difficulty of procuring open source systems that will
be supported after installation
Source: Optaros (2005)
Concerns About Using FOSS
Source: Forrester (March, 2007)
Future Areas of Interest for Businesses
› Software development tools – 82%
› Database management systems – 67%
› IT data center/operations management – 67%
› Content management or portals – 54%
Source: Optaros
Meeting Business Goals
Source: Forrester
Bottom Line
› It’s not a technology issue, it’s a business issue
› Key is to identify which projects make sense for open
source and which don’t
› Do the usual ROI calculation and make your choice
accordingly
Questions?
FOSS Benchmarks
› Two significant frameworks
– Open Source Maturity Model
– Business Readiness Rating
› Benchmark characteristics:
– Functionality
– Community
– Maturity
– Trend
Source: OSS Watch
Role of Open Source in the Future
Source: Forrester (March 2007)
In-House Sourcing Workflow
Source: Source IT (Australian Government)
Differences in Acquisition Methods
Source: Optaros
FOSS Usage: By Industry & Software Category
Source: Optaros (2005)
Web Server Software – Share in October 2007
Source: Netcraft
Web Server Software – 2001-2007 Growth
Source: Netcraft
