What is it about Open Source?
Whilst working with my friend and colleague, Alan Bell, to set up our new business providing Open Source training and consulting, I have found the most amazing levels of enthusiasm and cynicism surrounding the Open Source phenomenon.
Some of the proponents extol the virtues of FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) as if it will bring the world to complete evangelical salvation, whereas the other end of the spectrum seem to believe it is a communist led conspiracy to do away with free markets and economic growth.
My personal opinion is - as you’ve probably guessed - somewhere in the middle. Open Source is great: It’s [mostly] free! It works! Proprietary software is [usually] expensive. It [almost always] ties you into one vendor. Some of it is very clever indeed and worth every penny; but I haven’t got any pennies to spend…
I read an article today on an Australian “IT news” website that read like it came from an “industry expert” (or at least someone who had done their research). Little could be further from the truth however… It’s title is “A cynic rips open source.”
The concluding argument of this article says:
” A cynic might suggest that the people writing open source software are the ones who are making their daytime living working for a proprietary-solutions vendor and spend their nights tearing down the very house they live in. And that if open source replaced proprietary solutions, these people would not be able to make a daytime living that supports their night time hobby.
A cynic would be right.”
Now, I do not want to sound like one of the evangelical FLOSS brigade, but anyone with a modicum of intelligence would be able to do 10 minutes digging around the ‘net to find that this conclusion is completely and utterly wrong.
Take the recent and very extensive report commissioned by the EU which found that of the 131,000 man years worth of effort, and €22bn worth of EU investment in FLOSS, only around 10% of the participants who write Open Source software work for proprietary software companies. The vast majority work in the Enterprises which the author so cynically believes are using FLOSS purely to beat down the cost of proprietary systems.
There are many other reports and statistical data being produced which confirm that Open Source Software is becoming a mainstream tool in businesses everywhere. Even in mission-critical application areas such as ERP. We have some statistical data on our (still work-in-progress) website at http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com and a feed from Google News for all things happening in the FLOSS world.
The original article that ‘got my goat’ can be read here: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;810329453;fp;4;fpid;1968336438 (but note there is no option for public comments).
The EU Report on the impact of FLOSS can be obtained from here: http://flossimpact.eu/
Me thinks that the cynic is hopelessly wrong…
