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A move to open-source softwareA move to lower cost, open-source software will enable organizations to bring solutions and services to market faster and cheaper.
When Linus Torvalds sat down in 1991 to write a version of Unix that would run on Intel chips (later to become Linux), he probably didn’t think too much about creating a whole new way to develop and maintain software. Yet the act of opening the code to anyone interested and willing to make a contribution has had a revolutionary impact. Fast-forward to 2001: Linux is factored into the core strategy of most major vendors (including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Oracle and Sun Microsystems) and is increasingly the platform of choice for many server applications. Open-source development products (JBoss, FreeSQL, Tomcat) are widely available and in some cases (such as Apache) widely used. There are at least 30 Linux distributions available. Many experts feel that although open-source applications have not yet fully matured, they believe the applications are mature enough to include as key parts of their future IT strategies. A recent study conducted by CIO Magazine18 found there is evidence the IT community is growing more comfortable with the open-source development model, reporting that open-source software will dominate as the Web server application platform and server operating system within five years. The majority (64 percent) of companies surveyed are using open source today, most frequently as a server operating system and for Web development. CIOs surveyed say the greatest benefits from using open source are lower total cost of ownership, lower capital investment and greater reliability and uptime compared to their existing systems. IT executives report that open source provides greater flexibility and control, and faster, cheaper application development. All things being equal, the majority of IT executives surveyed said they would choose open source for a new implementation over a proprietary vendor solution. Adoption of open-source development methods as acceptable practice is also starting to take root. The open-source development process, where volunteer developers contribute code over the Internet, does not appear to be a concern for the majority of IT executives in the CIO Magazine survey.
“SourceFORGE.net is the largest repository of open-source code on the Internet. As of November 23, 2003, SourceForge reported hosting 71,580 projects and over 740,000 registered users. Over 1,800 open-source education projects are hosted on the site.” —SourceFORGE.net When asked how comfortable their organization was with the open-source development process compared to the traditional proprietary development process (full-time, paid developers, code managed and organized centrally), 27 percent said they were more comfortable with open source and 36 percent said they had the same level of comfort as with the proprietary process. Users are beginning to view many software applications as commodity products with little differentiation among vendor offerings. Open source provides organizations with another compelling choice that offers the flexibility, quality and reliability necessary to implement many functional applications to run a business. Faced with budget constraints and increased spending on security infrastructure, the open-source movement will allow organizations that cannot wait for funding to get started on IT initiatives. This will likely mean an even faster rate of new technology introductions in the future landscape. “Amazon.com embraced open source in 2002, converting from Sun’s proprietary operating system to Linux. The switch is simplifying the process by which freelance retailers known as Amazon associates can build links to Amazon applications into their Web sites, using Amazon’s payment, fulfillment and customer service without actually installing the software.”19 It is not a coincidence that many of the developers participating in the open-source arena are the same young people for whom a collaborative gaming environment is part of their social landscape. “They care passionately that the results of their cooperative creative efforts not be appropriated, or inappropriately co-opted. That which has been achieved by sharing should, in turn, be shared with the rest of the community.”20 |
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