Once seen as flaky, cheap and the work of amateur developers, open source has emerged blinking into the daylight. With unrestricted access to the source code to run or modify at will, and support coming from an ad hoc collection of software developers and fellow users, the open-source model is very different from proprietary software. But it is nevertheless proving attractive enough for a host of CIOs to make the switch.
So who?s using open source? Why are they using it? And are the benefits worth the risks? The answers are surprising and dispel some of the myths surrounding open source.
The attraction is the price tag
One of open source?s most touted benefits is its price. Download the software, install it? and don?t pay a penny. That?s the theory. But to a surprising number of open-source user companies, the price tag or lack of one is irrelevant. It?s not about being cheap, it?s about doing things effectively. Ask many users of open source and a similar story emerges.
The savings aren?t real
Open-source software has been described as "free, as in a free puppy." And yes, the absence of software licensing fees needs to be offset along with the costs of training, support and maintenance. On the other hand, proponents of open source also cite reduced costs of "vendor churn," where vendors require users to migrate to a new version or pay for extra support. Most users we spoke to for this story reported a net savings with open source often a substantial one.
The big attraction of open source is that there?s a zero marginal cost of scale because open source doesn?t require additional licenses as an installation grows. As a result, the cost per transaction plummets as you add more systems. Exact comparisons are tricky, but where we can make like-for-like comparisons, we?re expecting at least an 80% reduction in running cost.
There?s no support
According to Gary Hein, an analyst with technology consultancy Burton Group, technical support is a potential open-source user?s primary concern. Who do you call when things go wrong? You can?t wring a vendor?s neck when there?s no vendor.
In practice, the situation is complex. Most open-source projects have a large corps of developers, Internet mailing lists, archives and support databases all available at no cost. That?s the good news. The not-so-good news is that there?s no single source of information. A simple question may result in multiple, conflicting answers with no authoritative source.
Even so, multiple sources of support can be better than being tied to one vendor especially when that vendor provides bad support or refuses to continue supporting software of a certain vintage.
In practice, existing users of open-source software appear perfectly happy with open-source support arrangements.
Some open-source applications also have support offered by the original developers. JBoss, for example, is backed by JBoss Group, which includes the 10 core developers who wrote the application.
A similar model also underpins Sourcefire, whose founders created Snort, the popular open-source intrusion detection tool. Downloaded off the Internet, Snort is command-line-driven. Enterprise users can set it up themselves but more and more are contracting Sourcefire to do it instead so that the company can handle security management details.
It?s a legal minefield
A variety of open-source licenses exist, and helping CIOs understand their implications is good business for lawyer?s very good business. CIO concerns chiefly revolve around the implications of using code to which they can?t verify their right to use.
For some users, third-party indemnification is an option.
Open source isn?t for mission-critical applications
Mission-critical apps don?t come any more crucial than those in banking, where transaction systems simply have to work, period.
Open source isn?t ready for the desktop
A broad-brush calculation is that it costs $1,820 per seat to install a PC with all the Microsoft tools a user needs. With Linux, and open-source tools, it?s only around half that. Other IT shops as big and diverse as Siemens Business Services and the Chinese government are also convinced that Linux is ready for the desktop.
The Bottom Line
Is open source right for every organisation? In the end, it?s a question of attitude. The arguments for and against open-source software often get very trivialised. It?s not a technology issue; it?s a business issue to do with externalisation."
Companies with an external focus, which are used to working collaboratively with other organisations, and perhaps are already using collaborative technologies, stand to gain much more from open source than companies with an internal focus, which see the technology in terms of cost savings.
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So who?s using open source? Why are they using it? And are the benefits worth the risks? The answers are surprising and dispel some of the myths surrounding open source.
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