Giving his strong backing for the open source movement
e-commerce minister Stephen Timms this month called on UK
organisations to take a close look at open software.
The occasion was the formal launch of an in-depth, qualitative
survey of 60 IT directors from the retail, finance and public
sectors, backed by the Department of Trade & Industry and
organised by OpenForum Europe, a consortium of corporate IT users
and open source suppliers.
One major finding from the survey was that whereas last year IT
directors acknowledged they had heard of open source software, this
year they said they intend to actually look at it.
"This year we see a growth surge in business confidence for open
source," said Graham Taylor, chief executive of the group.
These senior users were more relaxed this year about security of
Linux and open source software. Last year about 20% found security
worries an inhibitor, while virtually none did this year.
Fewer respondents had worries about support this year, suggesting
suppliers had got their act together better over the past 12
months. Last year 56% had concerns about support, that figure is
now reduced to 29%, although that is still an outstanding
issue.
Users still have difficulty with the support model for open source:
they understand there is no such thing as a free lunch but do not
appreciate how open source suppliers make their money.
Different vertical sectors pinpointed different benefits as the key
ones for them.
Those from the retail sector reported that the greatest perceived
benefit of open source was lower total cost of ownership
Top benefit for finance sector respondents was lower software
licensing costs
Lack of lock-in was the most attractive attribute to those in the
public sector.
"The survey marks the coming of age of open source," said Timms.
"It is no longer the preserve of enthusiasts."
"Proselytising can be a turn- off. This report from the OpenForum
Europe helps provide evidence for business to make its own
decisions. We do want firms to understand the potential and grasp
the opportunities offered by open source.
"It is proving effective in allowing flexibility to change some
elements of computer systems without changing all of it."
OpenForum Europe reaches out to bridge the
divide
OpenForum Europe, a body of large IT users and suppliers
launched a year ago, and supported by Computer Weekly, aims to
strengthen the perception and credibility of open source,
particularly in government and among IT management and boards of
commercial user organisations.
It focuses on the business issues of using open source software
such as return on investment, true cost, and auditability.
OpenForum Europe is a not-for-profit sister programme to
Interforum, the Department of Trade and Industry-backed
organisation that encourages small- and medium-sized companies to
trade online.
Like Interforum, OpenForum Europe is under the umbrella of the
IT Forum Foundation which promotes use of e-commerce in UK
business.
Corporate user members include Citigroup, Financial Times,
London Connect, the Greater London Authority and the National
Computer Centre, as well as the standard open source suppliers such
as IBM, and others.
OpenForum Europe aims to steer a pragmatic path among the open
source purists and traditional software suppliers now offering open
source products and services.
This month the OpenForum Europe is conducting a series of
meetings and seminars in London and the Midlands. It is currently
embroiled in the controversial issue of software patents, to be
voted on by European MEPs in June. OpenForum Europe's view is that
software patents are inevitable in Europe now so they should be
made workable rather than go down the US path of ridiculous
proliferation of software patents.
The group also does its best to quell fears among open source
purists that open source will go the way Unix did 15 years ago, and
move from the ideal of openness to umpteen incompatible
varieties.
OpenForum Europe is confident that this will not happen as with
Unix, although there was a common envelope, every supplier had
their own version of the kernel. Today the common Linux kernel is
tightly controlled by Linus Torvalds, and open software such as
Apache and mySQL are highly controlled environments giving much
greater homogeneity than under Unix. '
www.openforumeurope.org