The introduction



OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

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Rio Sibuea

Kyle Vogt

Dan Backowski

Michele Dagenais

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 3

What you should know about open source 4

Advantages and disadvantages of open source 14

The cost of open source 18

Can open source work for you 23

Conclusion 27

References 28

Executive Summary

Once upon a time software did not matter, only hardware did.[i] Manufacturers were focused on selling hardware while software at the time was just a bunch of code that was written to run a machine. As the rapid development of hardware grew, customers realized that some hardware ran with better quality than others. Each piece of hardware gave different performance results on the same basic function. Customers finally realized that software was the key indicator of performance and the focus changed to applications.

Microsoft took advantage of the situation. They created software that was more user-friendly in order to simplify computing. Their Office Suite was a massive revolution and improved how people produced documents, spreadsheets, and slides which increased productivity for the business and home user. The success of Microsoft was followed by other software companies. As the development of software continued, competition among software companies to gain market share increased allowing customers to be more selective.

Lately customers have begun to look beyond proprietary software because they don't want to spend a lot of resources for applications that may not fully satisfy their needs.

Open source software was created by making the source code of the software available to anyone for free and by giving total privilege to anyone who was interested in developing or changing the software. This bright idea guaranteed the possibility that each person would have the power to advance their productivity by adjusting or transforming the software to meet their needs. The software can be distributed freely and obtained without spending a single dollar.

This paper will discuss what open source software is and cite the most popular applications. There are many advantages and disadvantages of using open source software at any given company depending on the company size and level of IT. Even though the software itself is free there are still many costs to convert your company to open source including training and support. One key reason for the increase in utilization of open source is the fact big vendors have announced their support for the products making customers feel more comfortable. This paper will also site various case studies on companies who have switched to open source and will conclude with how to make the conversion and whether or not it’s a viable option. There are many benefits and many drawbacks to converting a company to open source therefore it is important to understand the costs versus the benefit.

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What you should know about open source

The definition version 1.9

Open source software is not just defined as having total privilege access to the source code of the software but it must comply certain criteria. The Open Source Initiative, a non profit organization dedicated to promote open source software, released the latest version of 9 criteria in the definition which is version 1.9. The criteria consist of: [ii]

1. Free redistribution

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

2. Source Code

The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost–preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

3. Derived Works

The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

4. Integrity of the author’s source code

The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.

5. No discrimination against persons or groups

The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.

6. No discrimination against fields of endeavor

The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.

7. Distribution of license

The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

8. License must not be specific to a product

The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.

9. License must not restrict other software

The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.

In order for software to be released as open source it must integrate these 9 criteria to the software itself and the distribution.

A brief history

The era of free and open source software started in the 1960's and 1970's when programmers in Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT started to help each other by sharing their creation of code with each other and posting the improvement of the code back to the community.[iii] Richard Stallman, a graduate student of MIT at the time, was involved in this environment of sharing. In 1984 he founded the Free Software Foundation (), a tax exempt charity, to develop the free version of a UNIX Operating System. He built the foundation because he wanted the foundation to support his work and that of his other collaborators in creating free software. To ensure that the source code of the software released by them would always be freely distributable and modifiable, he created a license called GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL license specified that any user has the privilege to access, modify, change, and improve the application under the same license that originated the software. In 1994 Linus Torvalds, a Finnish software Engineer, launched the first free operating system to the community using the GPL License.[iv] He called it Linux, which is an operating system that has almost the same environment as UNIX. It attracted a lot of programmers to be involved in the project to make modifications with the Kernel. Moving to 1998, Netscape released its software as free software and made the source code available to everyone. That was the first time the term “open source” was used. Finally in 2003, open source software became more popular and many types of software from a text editor to an image processor were released as open source software under the GPL license. Linux operating system has been made into hundreds of varieties from a diskette operating system for small machines to an enterprise operating system for servers. Apache, an open source web server has been used by hundreds of web sites all over the world.

How it is created and distributed

The questions arise: who actually makes open source software? Is it only for expert programmers? The answer is anyone who has a creative idea, understands programming language, writes code, and wants to share their knowledge or experience can do it. The following picture is the interpretation of how open source software is first created, distributed and modified by anyone:

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Figure 1: Simple illustration about open source software creation and development

The picture above illustrates that Mark has this creative idea to make an mp3 player of his own by using the C programming language. He starts writing the code and compiles the source code into the software and tries it. He likes what he has done, but he wants to see if anyone else likes his program, so he uploads his program to a forum on the internet. Tom, who happens to be a member of the forum, sees Mark’s program, downloads it, installs it, and uses it. Bob, who is the member of the forum where Mark posted his program, sees Mark’s program and wants to see if it can be used as the replacement of his old media player. After using it for a couple of times, he realizes that it would be great if the mp3 player could not only play music but also movies. Using his ability to write software, he modifies the software using the source code. As a means of giving back ideas, he uploads the modified program along with the modified source code back to the forum.

Judy, who also interacts frequently in the forum, notices that Mark posted his program and she also notices that Tom has made an update to it. She downloads the latest update and installs it in her computer. After she uses it a couple of times, she has a desire to change the interface. So she changes it by using the source code and after she finishes it, she uploads it back to the forum. Stuart, who also happens to be a member of the forum, wants to try it also, so he downloads the latest update. After using it for a while he examines that there are some security bugs in the program. He tries to fix it by using the source code. After he fixes it he uploads it back to the internet as a means of giving back knowledge and experience. Finally Mark acknowledges that everyone likes his program and everyone is keen to improve his software creation.

This simple illustration highlights the idea of how open source software is first created, distributed and modified by anyone. The cycle can also happen across many forums which involves many different communities.

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Figure 2: Analogy of Open Source Software vs. Proprietary Software

The analogy above shows the different between open source software and the proprietary software. The single brain represents the proprietary software which only gives the privilege of modifying and improving the software to its own programmers. Examples of proprietary software vendors are Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. The bigger brain represents the collaborative work from many people involved in a project of open source software. It makes sense, the more people participating to improve the software, the better the software and the faster the development time will be.

So, what motivates people to make such a thing?

What do programmers get as a reward for giving ideas and knowledge for free? There are some basic motivations that explain what why:

1. The open source community thinks that knowledge and experience should be shared with everyone. Exchanging information in a form of knowledge and experience performs a better challenge to make a better product. Just as simple as sharing recipes among cooks. They are willing to share because they also want to learn new things or new challenges.[v]

2. The creators make the software because they need to or want to. They don’t have any obligation or to do so. It is clear that they don’t actually do it as a main source of living.

3. Commonly, open source software comes along with log files of the version history and a list of contributors who participated in the software. The creators have a desire for their name to be listed in the log files to signal their ability and professional advancement.

4. Some people find it fun to go against the big giant such as Microsoft. They want to show their ability to make software like Microsoft or even better.

Examples of Open Source Software

TCP/IP

TCP/IP is a set of communication protocol that organizes the communication of computers in a computer network.

The term TCP/IP consists of two protocols which are TCP and IP. TCP stands for Transfer Control Protocol which is the protocol over which a data/packet communication between computers in a computer network can be run.[vi] IP (Internet Protocol) is defined as having a function in providing a unique address for each communicating computer.[vii] For example a computer would have a specific IP number such as 192.168.0.1 to differentiate its address to another computer in the same network. The stack of layers of OSI Model explains how data travels and changes its form from physical layer through the Application layer.[viii] Data that is in the physical layer is in a raw form and once the data arrives at the Application layer, it can be seen in the monitor of the computer.

LINUX

Linux was the first free operating system that was released under the GPL license. This operating system was invented by a Finnish software engineer, Linus Torvalds.[ix] The idea to make this operating system came up when Linus was so interested in an operating system called Minix written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Minix was free but Professor Tanenbaum didn’t allow anyone to extend the software. So Linus tried to make his own operating system also using the same environment which is the UNIX environment. The Linux system quickly surpassed Minix in functionality. Another developer attracted to this operating system started to develop another GNU software application that could be run on Linux.

They also started to make other types of Linux applications such as RedHat Linux, Mandrake Linux, and Suse.

Firefox

Firefox is a free, open source and cross platform web browser produced by Mozilla and developed by hundreds of volunteers.

With over 25 million downloads in the 99 days after the initial 1.0 release, Firefox became one of the most downloaded open source applications, especially among home users.[x] The features that it offers are good usability and accessibility to the interface. Firefox supports tab browsing, which allows people to open multiple web pages in the same browser window.

Other features are customizability, security, internationalization, localization, and cross platform support. The chart shows the percentage of Firefox usage in selected European nations. The oranges ones are data that was taken in March 2005 and the yellow ones are data that was taken on January 2006. The number of people using Firefox is getting larger.

BIND/DNS

Berkeley Internet Name Domain/Domain Name System is an application that runs in a specific server commonly called the DNS Server that has a function to translate numeric IP address such as 72.14.203.104 to a domain name address such as or vice versa. The purpose is to help us easily remember the address of a server by memorizing alphanumeric phrase addresses instead of only numeric IP addresses.

As shown in figure 8, one DNS server maintains another DNS server under its hierarchy. So for example .id DNS server maintains the .co.id .net.id DNS servers and the .co.id DNS server maintains .company.co.id DNS server and so on.

SENDMAIL

Sendmail is a Mail Transfer Agent that has a function to relay email to another Mail Transfer Agent.[xi] It is commonly called a Mail server. Sendmail is the most widely used Mail server.[xii] The figure below shows how email travels from the Mail User Agent (Outlook/Thunderbird) to another Mail User Agent through Mail Transfer Agents.

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Figure 9: Mail Transfer Agent

Apache

Apache is a web daemon to run a web server. The number of servers that run Apache is getting larger through the year. Apache has been claimed as a notable key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web, and continues to be the most popular web server in use from small projects to enterprise projects.

Figure 10: Number of Apache usage

The chart above shows the number of Apache usage since June 2000 through March 2006.[xiii] The increase of people using the Apache is so remarkable compared to the Microsoft’s web server IIS.

Open Office

Open Office is a software application that has a similar feel to Microsoft Office.[xiv] The office suite contains a spreadsheet application (Calc), a word document editor (Writer), a presentation editor (Impress), a database editor (Base), and a drawing tool (Draw). Below are some screenshots of the applications:

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Advantages and disadvantages of open source

In this section, the discussion will consist of the advantages and disadvantages of open source software, some of the decision factors an IT manager should consider before implementing open source, and then finally a case study on the Ernie Ball Company.

Advantages of open source

Open Source software is either loved or hated, depending on which side of the fence you stand. Proponents speak highly of open source in terms of lower costs, a higher level of technical support and the fact programmers can modify the programs to fit their needs. Many open source programs are almost identical to their proprietary counterpart, for example – Microsoft Office and Open Office. These applications are almost identical, allowing users to make an easy transition from proprietary software to an open source application. Sterling Ball, the CEO of Ernie Ball Company has good things to say about open source. Ball comments, “It's the funniest thing--we're using it (Open Source Software) for e-mail client/server, spreadsheets and word processing. It's like working in Windows”15. As you can tell by that statement, open source is gaining popularity based on its content.

The first advantage of open source is the lower software cost – basically, free! Open source solutions generally require no licensing fees. The logical extension is no maintenance fees. The only expenditures are for media, documentation, and support, if required16. Another advantage of open source is the simplified license management. Obtain the software once and install it as many times and in as many locations as you need. There is no need to count, track, or monitor for license compliance16. Also, the lower hardware costs are an advantage. In general, Linux and open source solutions are elegantly compact and portable, and as a result require less hardware power to accomplish the same tasks as on conventional servers (Windows, Solaris) or workstations. The result is you can get by with less expensive or older hardware16.

Other advantages of open source are its scaling potential, the support and the ability to escape vendor contracts. Open source with its scaling and/or consolidation gives multiple options for load balancing, clustering, and open source applications, such as database and email, give organizations the ability to scale up for new growth or consolidate to do more with less16. Support also gives open source a great advantage. Support is available for open source—often superior to proprietary solutions. First, open source support is freely available and accessible through the online community via the Internet. Second, many tech companies (not the least of which is Novell) are now supporting open source with free online and multiple levels of paid support.

All open source solutions distributed by Novell are included in support and maintenance contracts16. Finally, open source is advantageous with its ability to escape vendor lock-ins. Frustration with vendor lock-ins is a reality for all IT managers. In addition to ongoing license fees, there is lack of portability and the inability to customize software to meet specific needs. Open source exists as a declaration of freedom of choice16.

Disadvantages of open source

On the other side of the fence, many may say there are apparent disadvantages of open source software. In fact, Jim Allchin, a Microsoft executive went as far to say that “open source is an intellectual property destroyer…”17. Although this statement may seem extreme and opinionated, there are some apparent disadvantages of open source. This section will discuss some of these disadvantages.

First, there is the issue of weather or not open source is actually free. Some compare it to a “free puppy”. The adage meaning no up-front costs, but plenty (often unseen or unanticipated) afterward. Implementation, administration, and support costs—particularly with Novell solutions18. In addition, there is the issue of support. Many opponents will say that support is mandatory, which also leads into the problems with open source support quality. There may be annoying bugs in the open source software and you may be required to pay for the support16. Even with the open forums where users can go, to get answers to there problems, many times answers can go unanswered or it takes too much time to resolve the issue16. As you can read, open source support is not as qualified as first perceived.

Other disadvantages are the security issues, training availability, and the fact all open source is a work-in-progress. As for security issues, its logical to think that the code is available, so anyone can figure out how to break it. Therefore, sabotage of an application is possible16. Another disadvantage is training. Training is not always available. It is true that there is available Linux training through Novell and has created multiple levels of Linux certification; however, this is not always the case. In fact, sometimes the only training for open source applications is books at a local book store16. Many times, there is not even that. Finally, open source is a work-in-progress16. There are changes and updates always being implemented to open source applications, therefore you may not have the latest edition. In addition, projects can die and applications may be incomplete16.

Things to consider before implementing open source

The following questions should be asked by any IT manager thinking about moving their company to open source. These questions can be found in the article Open source software in your online business - advantages/disadvantages by Michael Bloch19.

• Is the software well established or still in its infancy? – A well established application only indicates that the software is reliable. If it is a newer application, there may be bugs to work out.

• Are there regular updates, patches and new features? – This may indicate there are many programmers working on the application and if there are bugs, more likely than not, the bugs will be worked out soon.

• Is there a support forum? – If there is none, where do you go for help?

• Are the support forums active? – Active forums are very important. If a forum is not active, chances are the program has been abandoned and your questions will go unanswered.

• Do forum participants help each other out?  - If the forums give bad advice and does not help users, there is a good chance the application is bad or is not being maintained any longer.

• Are reputable companies using the software? – If a reputable company is using the software, chances are the software is reliable.

• Is the documentation complete and coherent? – Are books and/or downloadable manuals available for the software? Important for training, administration and implementation of an application.

• What are the general costs with hiring contractors who are familiar with the software? – This should be considered. Is it cheaper or more expensive than proprietary software?

Case study: Ernie Ball Co.

The Ernie Ball Company is a company that has implemented open source applications for its everyday business use. The information gathered for this case study is a compilation of articles and an exclusive interview the IT Manager of Ernie Ball Co., Jeff Whitmore. In this section, the discussion will cover background information about the company, both past and present. It will also cover the company’s decision to move to open source, why they did, what were the lessons learned and what is their next open source project.

Ernie Ball founded the Ernie Ball Company in 1958. The company was originally a guitar store in Tarzana, CA. It was the first “guitar store” in the world, meaning they sold guitars only. Many thought Ernie was crazy to sell only guitars.

During that time, it was thought that the only way for a music store to stay in business was to sell various types of instruments. Ernie had a great love for guitars, and wanted to exclusively sell guitars. Today, Ernie Ball is a leading manufacturer of guitars, guitar accessories and amp hardware.

The company is best known for its high quality guitar strings. Ernie Ball is such a quality name brand; their products are used widely by popular musicians, including Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck and countless others20.

|*ANNUAL SALES |**MAJOR PRODUCTS |***CONSUMERS |**MUSICIANS THAT USE ERNIE BALL |

| | | |PRODUCTS |

|Est. $40 million in 2003 |GUITARS, GUITAR STRINGS, MUSICAL |MUSIC RETAIL STORES AND INTERNATIONAL |Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Paul |

| |ACCESSORIES, AMP HARDWARE & MORE |MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DISTRIBUTORS |McCartney, George Harrison, |

| | | |Keith Richards |

In 2000, the Ernie Ball Company had been audited by the Business Software Alliance and was found in violation of having dozens of unlicensed programs on their company computers. They would pass along older computers to subordinate employees when newer computers were purchased. Whenever a computer is passed along to another person, legally that computer is supposed to be wiped clean. There were in violation of this15.

When this happened, Sterling Ball, the CEO of Ernie Ball decided it would rid itself of all Microsoft programs and move all applications to open source software. The initiative was headed up by Jeff Whitmore, a senior Vice President and the IT Manager for the company. In an interview with Mr. Whitmore, he admitted that there were some challenges. He explained the employees at first were resistant to the change, but after time the employees adapted. He said the most challenging aspect of switching to open source was finding a replacement for MS Outlook. Eventually, they were able to find an open source replacement called OXtender Outlook, which is nearly identical to MS Outlook21.

Since moving to open source, Whitmore explained the main benefit of the switch was that there is no licensing, therefore they are free from Microsoft. Jeff says there are…“No worries about the copyright Nazi’s showing up with court orders and armed with Federal Marshall’s”. They are very happy with the open source applications they have now. The company admits that open source was easier than first thought and they believe that Microsoft is not the only option. The company is not completely open source, but it is completely anti-Microsoft. Future plans for open source is to find an open source accounting package21.

The cost of open source

The question ‘how much does open source cost’ refers to the costs incurred in implementing and maintaining open source software in a business environment. These costs include direct and indirect costs related to staffing, licensing and overhead. Only after knowing the actual costs of open source can any business entity make an informed decision whether or not to use the software.

The MITRE Corporation was designed specifically to answer questions such as this. MITRE Corporation is a not for profit agency whose entire mission is to “explore new technologies and new uses of technology to solve client’s problems in the near and distant future.22” Their clients are mainly the United States Federal Government, specifically the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. MITRE’s mission is public interest. It is in the public’s interest to know the cost of open source.

“The MITRE Corporation began in 1958 as hundreds of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratories came to MITRE to create new technology for the Department of Defense—specifically the Semi-Automated Ground Environment, which used brand new digital computers. The company expanded in 1963 after the Federal Aviation Administration gave the company systems engineering responsibility for the projected National Airspace System. MITRE continued to expand as it took on new challenges for new customers, always focused on serving the public interest. Our work in information technology led to the formation of an FFRDC for the Internal Revenue Service in 2000, which now provides enterprise modernization support to numerous government agencies. Over the years, the company has continued to evolve to meet the changing needs of its sponsors by providing top-notch engineers and scientists experienced in a wide range of technologies.22”

In 2005, MITRE was named one of the 100 Best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine, a “Great Place to Work” by The Washington and ranked tenth on Computerworld’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT.23” These awards only add to the growing credentials behind the MITRE Corporation.

Because MITRE is a non-profit agency, much of the projects and studies completed for clients are published and made public. One such study closely researched open source as an option for business – “A Business Case Study for Open Source Software.” The MITRE Corporation examined all aspects of open source including costs. Before costs can be examined, it is important to know the process needed to make the informed decision about open source. MITRE, specifically the author, designed a framework to make the best decision regarding software. The process is similar to other decision models and begins with environmental scanning24. This includes examining internal and external environments about open source. What is everyone else using? Do our customers use open source? What barriers exist (eg. support) that we should be aware? What products are offered?

The second and most important step in the decision process is the analysis of open source. It is at this stage strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are examined cumulatively in order to make the best decision24. How much can be spent on open source? Is there market potential? What are the risks? The figure above details the entire process

Finally, the process ends with a decision made based on feasibility and opportunity. This decision is largely based on the amount of capital, costs, necessary for an open software environment versus closed source software24.

It was found that the associated costs could be divided into two subdivisions – direct and indirect. Direct costs included software, hardware, support and staffing while indirect included support, learning, training, application development and downtime24.

The cost of Linux operating system versus Windows operating system was compared when examining direct costs. Windows costs significantly outweighed Linux in the comparison.

“Linux can be downloaded for free over the Internet or purchased from a vendor for a nominal price of about $60. There is no licensing fee. The cost of Microsoft Windows NT is approximately $600-$800 for five users and $35 for each additional user. Additional features in Microsoft, such as telnet, news server, better DNS server, and disk quotas can run about $3,800; these features are included in Linux at no extra charge. 24”

Free versus any amount of above zero dollars makes for an easy decision.

Assuming companies have used computers in the past, hardware costs compared to closed source software are much lower. “Because Linux has relatively few lines of code and is highly modular, it can run on less powerful computers than can other operating systems. Users commonly run Linux on older, otherwise unusable, computers (e.g., 486 PCs) and pay nothing for hardware. 24”

Technical support is the one cost that is very comparable and possibly even higher than closed systems.

“Annual labor costs for help desk support are about $30,000. With open source code, it is possible for problems to be fixed internally by the user’s organization. For closed source, proprietary software, problems must be fixed by the external supplier or vendor. External support for Linux costs about $60-$85 per hour per incident or $3,000 for a block of ten incidents. There are also enterprise support packages [eg. Novell, IBM] available for Linux for about $60,000 a year. Microsoft NT support costs $200 per incident or $1,700 for a block of ten incidents. 24”

Staffing costs are also a cost both closed and open software users need. However it was found that there is not a considerable difference in need24. MITRE suggests the following for an effective open source strategy:

Project manager - $60,000

Systems engineer $45,000 - $90,000

System administrator – $30,000 - $65,000

Training - $2,500 - $10,000 per employee

Other (administrative, overhead) - $21,000 - $45,000

For other costs it is difficult to assign a specific dollar amount – these are indirect costs. “Indirect costs include ‘hidden’ influences and causal inter-relationships that may be difficult to capture. Since they are potentially significant, they are important to identify and consider. These indirect costs can be measured in terms of lost productivity attributed to the computing environment. While the salary and other labor costs associated with an employee are captured under the direct cost category, the indirect costs represent labor costs that are ‘wasted’ and could be used in more productive ways. In other words, although there is no additional direct cost to the organization, not as much output was received from the employee due to inefficiencies in the process or system. 24”

Indirect costs related to open source were mostly related to personnel. Peer support describes time spent asking others, not necessarily professionals, about a problem. Casual learning refers to the learning curve and ongoing learning of the software. Application development refers to labor expenses related to customization of applications. The Futz Factor is also labor costs incurred when employees use company applications for personal use (eg. Internet). Lastly, downtime due to unexpected outages or the unavailability of computer access is a cost24.

The total cost of open source can be expressed in the following equation:

dC(n1) + dC(n2) + dC(n3) + dC(n…) + iC = tC

where DC is direct cost, N is number (eg. employees), IC is indirect cost

Although it is impossible to generalize all costs, companies should be able to calculate individual costs for open source.

Windows vs. Linux

The battle between Microsoft Windows and Linux rages throughout the software industry…below are a few highlights of the war.

It was established in the MITRE case that Linux is essentially free or can be obtained for a $60 hard copy fee versus the $600-800 fee for Windows NT. Some additional research on the Microsoft website concludes that one license of Windows XP Professional can be obtained for $279. Linux wins that round.

Support is offered by Microsoft both online and through phone and email25. Linux is also supported online and commercially through phone and email. Microsoft reaches a broader audience with phone support and wins that round.

Linux requires less machine power than Microsoft Windows25 – therefore hardware can last longer and costs are decreased. Linux wins that round.

Open source software is becoming so popular it is now compatible with Windows operating system. Some costs can be decreased but Microsoft is still relied upon as a backbone system. “These applications although they increase the recognition of the open source community, they strengthen the Windows ecosystem, therefore may hurt Linux in its competition with Windows in the short-term. 25” Microsoft wins that round.

Switching costs from Microsoft to Linux and open source in general are huge25. However, completely starting from open source greatly reduces costs in the long-run. This round is a draw.

It is unclear if any general conclusion can be made whether Linux is better than Microsoft. More research is required to know exact switching costs and time is necessary in order to view the detailed effects of using open versus closes source software.

“Besides the competition between Linux and Windows, there is a need for more research to analyze and understand the strategies of competing Linux distributors. Also more research is needed in understanding the switching costs and the open source adoption strategies of enterprises. 25”

Open source is in its infancy overall as an industry and it is impossible to make generalizations about Linux versus Windows. As the industry grows, more information and informed decisions can be made. At this time, it is possible to examine individually each situation or company and make an informed decision. If a company is purchasing new equipment or possibly just beginning, all facts point to lower costs overall for Windows versus Linux. As mentioned in the MITRE case, training, culture and learning – all qualitative measures – effect the overall decision. Windows and Linux will surely continue to battle for market share as time progresses and as open source spreads.

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Can open source work for you?

More and more companies are beginning to accept open source as a legitimate alternative to proprietary systems. For example, Tom Jeffery, Vice President of IT for KB Toys needed a new software system to run 10,000 new cash registers at 1,300 KB Toys stores.26 He didn't know much about open source but he needed something quickly because his current vendor was about to stop supporting his current system. Jeffery's team researched several systems that could handle the new cash registers. They stared out with 6 potential vendors and then narrowed it down to 3. All three of the software systems that met the needs of KB Toys were written in Java and ran on Linux. Tom Jeffery was basically forced to learn about open systems software because it happened to be the best solution for his company.

CIO's better get ready

In a November 2002 CIO survey, 375 information executives were asked what their dominant server platform would be in five years and 54% of them said open source. 26 We're coming up on that five year point and it seems like many major companies are taking it seriously and big vendors have been supporting it. CIO's have enjoyed cost savings in moving to open source and they find it's easier to resolve issues because the open source community is always available to service their needs as opposed to waiting on the vendors to have enough time available. The open source community cares about the needs of the users and prides itself in their resolution time because they are the ones creating the programs and are happy to give insight. “CIO's who don't come to terms with this revolution in 2003 will be paying too much for IT in 2004.” 26

The Apache example

Apache is a webpage server that was released in 1996. It was developed by the open source community when they couldn't find a commercial software package. Randy Turbush found seven other people to work with him and they founded the Apache Software Foundation which now develops and distributes the Apache HTTP server. Apache now runs over 60% of the world's websites.

Vendor support

Major vendors have recently begun to support the open source movement which certainly helps the community in establishing credibility. IBM is probably the largest supporter at the current time but other large vendors such as Dell, HP, Oracle and Sun have all announced their support.

“We will guarantee the same service-level agreements for Linux that we do for proprietary operating systems,” says Dan Frye, director of IBM's Linux Technology Center. “Response times, fix times, uptime – we'll sign all those same contracts for Linux.” 26

Oracle followed by releasing a database to run on Linux servers so that companies could save money and run their open source software on cheap Intel servers as opposed to expensive hardware. Even Sun offers a Linux server which is astonishing since they are the Unix market leader. Obviously the only major vendor to resist is Microsoft but they have at least recognized that Linux is a legitimate competitor.

What is your Open Source Plan?

Start with the Web

An easy and well tested way to begin using open source products is the start with the Internet applications. The Apache web server can be used to consolidate websites which can run on Linux servers. For example, a valve and motor manufacturer called SPX had several different divisions and plants which all had their own websites. The CIO, Pete Sattler, consolidated 75 websites on Apache and went from 40 Windows servers to 4 Linux servers. 26 SPX hired a Linux consultant who customized the program for them and now the company can install Linux on as many servers as it wants for free.

Take Back Your Infrastructure

Open source allows you to customize your own infrastructure and therefore can lead to cost savings. Instead of buying an expensive server with proprietary software you can buy a cheaper server and load it with free open source software. Open source is very customizable. The community is there to help you develop the software that best fits the needs of your company. Harry Roberts, Senior VP and CIO of Boscov moved to Linux on it IBM mainframe and says:

“There's a little more on your IT people to reach out and provide answers rather than going back to the vendor and asking for a patch, but they like the new way, they don't want to wait weeks or months for solutions to come from the vendor.” 26

Design Your Own Desktop

Most proprietary software systems are built to look exactly alike for each customer, therefore if a company wants to change something they have to do it on the back end to each computer. Microsoft Windows for example only works with Internet Explorer.

If a company doesn't want their employees to have access to the Internet or to have their PC's loaded with games they need to remove all of that at the Desktop level. Linux, however, can be customized to exclude an Internet browser and anything else specific to the company. David Chugg, IT Senior Director of Cendant, comments:

“It's a loosely coupled system, so you can rip out the stuff you don't want without harming the rest of it.” 26

Get Rid of Expense Hardware

Unix servers are expensive because company's are paying for the hardware and the operating system altogether. As an alternative, the company can purchase shell Intel servers and load Linux on them for free. Linux is very similar to Unix so most companies haven't had much difficulty in the transition. More and more companies are making the switch now that the products are supported by major vendors. DaimlerChrysler's CIO Unger converted a portion of the company to Linux running on Intel servers and reported not only cost savings but performance improvement:

“We expected cost savings, but we were surprised at how big they were: 40% for hardware, software and service combined along with an application performance improvement of 20%.”26



is an open source website for the community. The products were created in 1998 by Zope Corporation, a software company who decided to move into the world of open source. Zope is an open source web application server which has great HTML templates. 27 It has a strong “through the web” development model which allows the customer to update their website from anywhere in the world. Zope has a very secure architecture and has strong data integrity. There are many products and components which act as site building tools to download. Zope includes its own serving capabilities but can also be used with Apache and other web servers. Several large companies use Zope including: Viacom, AARP, Verizon Wireless, NASA, and GE.

Zope's open source business decision

Zope corporation was looking to merge their two products Bobo, a free, open source toolkit for web-object applications, and Principia, a proprietary web application platform. They suddenly realized they may be able to achieve this task by open sourcing Principia. They did more research on open source and how it would increase the value of the company and found some very positive feedback: 28

• Going open source would increase their user base by a factor of 100 within 3 months.

• Open source gives solid, tested software on platforms with more capabilities than closed source.

• Organizing an open source community is a very effective marketing tool

• Open source architecture is safer for consulting customers in that the customer is able to fix problems themselves or easily find someone in the community to help.

• Working with a community increases innovation and responsiveness

• Going open source could put the company at the top of the web application server market

The company agreed that open source was the way to go and Zope was born.

A world without open source software29

In an article by Keith W. Porterfield, Keith notes what the world would be like without free software. It's amazing just how many open source products are being used not only as a competitor to proprietary software but in some cases as the most viable or only option. The following list defines how the world would look without open source:

1. Over half of the Internet web sites would disappear. Apache web server runs the majority of the world's web sites.

2. Sites still operating would have little or no active content. Perl is the programming language used on most web sites.

3. Most electronic mailing lists would stop. Majordomo list manager is the most popular and it's written in Perl.

4. Email wouldn't work. Sendmail handles and delivers most email over the Internet.

5. Legible Domain Names wouldn't exist. BIND Domain Name System does the mapping between numeric and alphabetic web addresses.

Today most software engineers prefer open source software of proprietary systems especially Apache. Therefore not only is the software free it's actually better. Many people think Apache has higher quality and better support in terms of responsiveness. Keith Porterfield believes “Without freeware, there wouldn't be an Internet.” 29

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Conclusion: Is Open Source right for your company?

If you’re a CIO of a Company, how can you decide if open source is right for you? This isn’t an easy question for any CIO. The answer lies within the structure of your company. We believe if you’re a small company with a strong IT background, that open source is a great option. The conversion would be relatively simple and the cost savings would be large. The reason it’s essential for your company to have a strong IT background stems from the fact a lot of open source software is not generically packaged. The benefits stem from being able to customize the software to fit your company's needs.

If you’re a CIO of a large company, we believe it would be a little more difficult to build a case for a conversion to open source products. The cost/benefit ratio may be too high due to the fact it would be a culture change. The implementation and training costs would be excessive and the support would have to be analyzed to determine the level and cost for a large organization. A SWOT analysis would have to be done to help the CIO make the decision. A lot of companies we found converted a portion or segment of their business to open source since it made sense for a specific project so that could be a place to start for large companies.

In general we think open source software is going to become more and more widely used as the public becomes more familiar and comfortable with the products.

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References

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[i] Chris DiBona, Danese Cooper, Mark Stone, “Open Sources 2.0”, O’Reilly 2005, p. 104

[ii] Chris DiBona, Danese Cooper, Mark Stone, “Open Sources 2.0”, O’Reilly 2005, Appendix A, p. 399

[iii] , viewed on 3/29/06

[iv] , viewed on 3/29/06

[v] , viewed on 4/10/06

[vi] , viewed on 4/12/06

[vii] , viewed on 4/12/06

[viii] , viewed on 4/12/06

[ix] , viewed on 4/15/06

[x] , viewed on 4/15/06

[xi] , viewed on 4/9/06

[xii] , viewed on 4/10/06

[xiii] , viewed on 4/8/06

[xiv] , viewed on 4/15/06

15 – viewed on 3/25/06

16 - The Advantages of Adopting Open Source Software By Jason Williams, Peter Clegg, Emmett Dulaney. – Viewed on 03/23/06

17 Microsoft raps open-source approach By Ben Charny - - Viewed on 03/23/06

18 source 'is free like a puppy is free' says Sun boss – viewed on 03/23/06 Andrew Donoghue ZDNet UK June 08, 2005

19 - Open source software in your online business - advantages/disadvantages Michael Bloch – viewed on 03/23/06

20 – viewed on 03/23/06

21Source: Interview with Ernie Ball Executive, Jeff Whitmore – 03/25/2006

22 Viewed March 23, 2006.

23. Viewed March 23, 2006.

24Kenwood, Carolyn. A Business Case Study for Open Source Software. Published by MITRE Corporation; July 2001.

25 Economides and Katsamakas. “Linux vs. Windows: A comparison of application and platform innovation incentives for open source and proprietary software platforms.” Published by NET Institute, October 2005.

26, viewed March 26, 2006

27, viewed April 1, 2006

28, viewed March 26, 2006

29, viewed March 26, 2006

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(Stuart - user/programmer)

(Judy - user/programmer)

Bob

(user/programmer)

(Tom - end user)

(Mark - author)

(Open Source)

(Proprietary, eg. Microsoft)

Single Brain

Collective Brain

Figure 3: OSI Layer

Figure 4: Linus Torvalds

Figure 5: Linux logo

Figure 6: Screenshot of Firefox browser

Figure 8: DNS Hierarchical Structure

Calc, similar to Excel

Impress, similar to PowerPoint

Writer, similar to Word

Figure 7: Percent Firefox usage in Europe

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