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Software wants to be free…

Software wants to be free…. What is Open Source Software (OSS)?. Open source software refers to computer software available with its source code and under an open source license to study, change, and improve its design Allows anyone to : Make a new version of the software Sell it Market it.

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Software wants to be free…

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  1. Software wants to be free…

  2. What is Open Source Software (OSS)? • Open source software refers to computer software available with its source code and under an open source license to study, change, and improve its design • Allows anyone to : • Make a new version of the software • Sell it • Market it

  3. How did it start? • The First Era - 1960-80 • Development primarily in academics – Berkley, MIT, Xerox • Informal setting, Common to share OS and code • The Second Era 1980-1990 • Free Software Foundation, by Richard Stallman • “Free as in speech not as in beer” • Start of GPL licensing • The Third Era: early 1990s to today. • Widespread diffusion of Internet access. • Numerous new open source projects emerged, most notably Linux • “Open Source” licensing

  4. How Is It Developed? • Idea (itch) inception • “Scratching the itch” • Upload to a well known location • Software gets better by: • Informally sharing ideas • Fiddling with each others' code, • Sometimes it changes direction • As time goes on, developers come and go, and projects become active or dormant

  5. You would develop Open Source if… • You've gutted and rebuilt your computer 5 times since you last changed the oil in your car. • The only tan you've ever acquired comes from your monitor. • You see a good-looking girl and you DESPERATELY want her e-mail address so you can get to know her. • When you're reading a magazine and you see an underlined passage, you feel compelled to click on it. • You wake up wondering which directory you're in.

  6. You would develop Open Source if…

  7. Open Source and Economic Theory • Commercial projects (proprietary software) generate income, where as Open Source reduces costs • Short term benefits • Alumni Effect • Company compensation • “Some” government and not for profit organizations subsidies • Customization and bug fixing • Private benefit of customization and bug fix for programmer and the firm

  8. Open Source and Economic Theory • Long Term benefits - Signaling Incentive • Better performance measurement • Full initiative • Greater fluidity • Recognition • Choice work

  9. Issues with Open Source • Forking • Documentation and support • Geared towards knowledgeable and sophisticated users “In every release cycle Microsoft always listens to its most ignorant customers where as Linux listens to the smartest customers” • Disproportionate contributions • Subject to “Fads”

  10. Legal Aspects – GPL versus Open Source • GPL • One may copy and distribute the software licensed under the GPL at will, provided others are not inhibited to do the same, either by charging them for the software itself or by restricting them through further licensing • Treated as a “virus” for proprietary software • Open Source • Allows greater liberties with licensing than the GPL does. • Allows greater promiscuity when mixing proprietary and open source software

  11. Popular OS software Apache HTTP web server • Started by Brian Behlendorf in 1994 • Derived from University of Illinois web server software • 63% of web servers in World use Apache Market Share for Active Web servers Source Netcraft

  12. Popular OS software • Linux • Most popular Unix based Operating System • Phenomenal growth • MySQL • Popular Database software • 44% of developers use MySQL

  13. Popular OS software • Perl • Created by Larry Wall in 1987 • Large number of repetitive system administration tasks • Widely accepted as a language for developing scripts for Apache web servers • Sendmail • Developed in 1979 by Eric Allman, in UC Berkeley • To solve the problem of incompatibility of the two major computer networks on campus. • In 1997, Allman established Sendmail Inc. • By 1998 80% of email traffic was sent using Sendmail

  14. Popular OS Software • OpenOffice.org and StarOffice • DVD ripping • http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/download.htm • Turbocash Personal Finance • http://www.turbocash.co.za/ • PDFCreator • Create PDF documents on Windows • VNC – Virtual Network Computing • Control your desktop remotely http://www.realvnc.com/ • Various Games • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_games

  15. Open Source Companies • IBM • Chose to open-source Apache webserver to bundle with its WebSphere suite • Released the Secure Mailer in open source • Launched the AlphaWorks site to disseminate cutting-edge IBM technology in source • Made  Linux the primary operating system on all their high end mainframe servers • Participates in about 120 OS projects like Eclipse, Derby, Geronimo and Globus • Contributed more than 500 patens, $1 Billion in Linux investments

  16. Open Source Companies • Novell • Acquisitions of SUSE LINUX and Ximian in 2003 • Powerful and well respected Linux Distribution • Apple • Released core layers of Mac OS X Server (Darwin) in March of 1999 • Partners with the Apache Group, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and other open source developers to work on evolving the Mac OS X platform

  17. Open Source Companies • HP • High end servers based on the HP/Intel's jointly developed Itanium processor technology • Compaq IPAQ handhelds can run Linux, too. • Offers integrated support options for customers running open source systems on their servers.  • Sun • Uses Linux on a line of small servers originally made by Cobalt • Supports open source development e.g. • Forte IDE for Java, • Mozilla web browser

  18. Open Source Companies • Red Hat Software • Very successful Linux vendor • $ 5.4 B market cap, P/E = 74 • Shipped more paid copies of Linux than any other vendor • Recently acquired JBoss • SugarCRM • Customize and Integrate customer-facing business process • Easily adaptable, Cost Effective, Flexible • Sugar On-Demand, Sugar Cube, Sugar On-Premise • Sugarforge.com

  19. Companies' open source strategies. • Provide services not provided efficiently by Open Source - Red Hat, VA Linux • Open source proprietary code to create friendly atmosphere or threaten rivals – IBM Eclipse, Intel Tiano • Development of open source software – helping open source complement proprietary products - HP Spectrum Object Linker • Build entire product on open source and release source code as marketing vehicle – SugarCRM, Compiere • Imitate collaborative methodologies of open source and their teams - Collabnet • Fight it! - Microsoft (Link to video)

  20. Changing Software Companies mindset • Listing programmers’ names • Encouraging widespread code sharing within companies • Due diligence on using Open Source and GPL • High Legal and Goodwill Risks

  21. Should you use Open Source? • 7 million computers use Linux • 1.1 million developers in NA were working on OSS projects in Feb 2004 • 600,000 mail servers use Sendmail • More than 80% of companies use OSS products • OpenSSH has 88% market share in SSH security protocol • 64% of DBA and developers use OS database • 44% of software developers use MySQL database • 63% of all Internet web pages are hosted on Apache web server Amazon, Yahoo and Google use OSS • Government of California is considering using more Open Source Software than before • FTB uses Open Source extensively • 5000 copies of VNC, saving $330K • Caltrans save $300K in 2004-2005 Source:http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html http://cpr.ca.gov/report/cprrpt/issrec/stops/it/so10.htm

  22. Can Open Source Process be transported to other industries? • Factors to consider • Electronic Information Exchange across World • Breaking projects in small, manageable modules • Infrastructure needs • Cost of designing and testing • Regulatory approval • Numerous and unsophisticated users – few services of peer gratification

  23. Risks to OSS movement • Few individuals control major products • OSS becomes part of establishment • Burnout of leading OSS pioneers • Does it still have the passion, challenge, freedom, fun • Modesty and Supreme ability required from OSS leaders • “Free Beer” more important to customers • Insufficient focus on strategy • Version proliferation and standardization issues

  24. For more info on Open Source • General Open Source Information (www.opensource.org) • GNU CopyLeft license (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) • List of Open Source Projects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages) • “The Cathedral And The Bazaar” (Eric Raymond) • “Open Source for the Enterprise: Managing Risks Reaping Rewards” (Dan Woods, Gautam Guliani)   • “Free as in Freedom” (Sam Williams)

  25. Unresolved Itches???

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