Open Source Is Here To Stay

Open source software allows users to access and modify software free of
cost.Originating in 1983 as part of the free software movement, the term open
source software (OS) surfaced in 1998 as an initiative to allow software
developers to publish their software with an open source license, so that
anybody may also develop the same software or understand its internal
functioning.

Open source does not just imply access to source code of the software. Open
source software is based on a number of governing laws defining the terms of
usage, modification and redistribution of the technology.

Derived works

While free distribution and universal access to the source code with
modification rights occupy the primary importance in these applications, the
licence of the open source has to allow modifications of the derived works and
allow the developers to distribute them under the same terms as the license of
the original software.

Not a product-specific licence

The licence need not be product specific. If the program is extracted from
another open source platform or software, 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.

Technology-neutral

Also, the licence should not put restrictions on other software, both open
source and proprietary, from operating in the same platform. It should to be
'technology neutral' implying that the license may be predicated on any
individual technology or style of interface.

Now, the OS technology has been widely accepted and used across different
verticals with leading industries resorting to open source platforms and OS
applications as a cost-cutting initiative.

The open source and Linux

The OS-based platform, Linux gained much popularity with Oracle's
involvement beginning in the mid-1990s and Oracle Database Release 8 became the
first commercial database to be ported to that operating system. Oracle
recognized its potential as a viable operating system. It also started making
some investments into some of the Linux start-up companies.

In 2002, when the initial Oracle Unbreakable Linux program was launched, it
underscored Oracle's commitment to Linux as a viable enterprise operating
system. Oracle supported Linux to be a part of the growing Open Source community
and to become an active member of the community. It has a dedicated Linux
operating system development team in house and many of engineers are community
members.

They have experience with other Linux distribution vendors

Faisal Paul, Head-Marketing and Solution Alliances, Enterprise Servers,
Storage and Networking, HP Enterprise Business, India said, "HP is a strong
supporter of open source and we will continue to contribute to this. HP offers
open source Linux solutions for large enterprises, as welll as small and medium
businesses. We are working with Independent Software Vendors (ISV), who use open
source technologies in their products. Today we are also providing
infrastructure solutions to a large number of micro-verticals who are leveraging
open source software." Highlighting benefits of OS software, Paul said, "The key
benefits of using open source are lower TCO, ability to customize and lower cost
of support as it avoids vendor lock in." Also, pointing out the risks involved
for the CIOs, in using OS, he said, "Customers in some cases must consider the
risks of security, upgrades and support of open source software and tools if not
delivered

by premium system integration vendors. Customers who are looking at open source
must look at long-term strategy for the company rather than short term gains
through lower TCO."

The OS scenario and Microsoft's stand

Today, many Indian SMBs and SMEs are resorting to the use of OS platforms in
place of the proprietary platform. Also, hardware and services vendors are
promoting its usage.

The OS software garnered widespread popularity, especially after OpenOffice
came into force posing as a serious threat to Microsoft's revolutionary Office
Suite packs. Hence, proprietary software vendors and developers have now started
to think over their marketing strategies and the use of OS software products.

Making its stand clear over the OS issue, Microsoft's officials revealed,
"When we talk about open source, it includes open source applications, the open
source development approach, and open source communities. We must understand
that all open source software are not free".

"Hence, when we talk about Linux, we emphazise on the commercial Linux
operating system specifically. We also see that customers' interest is in open
source applications and not the platform. Many such applications run better on
the Windows platform. In fact, studies show that over 70 percent OSS run better
on Windows. Today there are more than 80,000 open source applications that run
on Windows, 30,000 of which were specifically built to run on Windows. More than
400 Microsoft open source projects are hosted on Microsoft supported community
site www.codeplex.com," said Microsoft officials.

Signaling the increased usage of interoperability as a result of the
convergence of open source, closed source, free and proprietary software, even
the largest software vendor has started to focus on helping customers and
partners in a heterogeneous technology world. "We both compete and partner with
traditional commercial vendors, and will continue to do so with open
source-based businesses. We are taking continued initiatives towards
interoperability. Our work in this area is all about providing more flexibility
and choice, and requests from our customers and partners were really the impetus
behind our efforts. Customers and open source partners experience more benefits
when they deploy new open source software solutions on top of existing Microsoft
platforms," official's of the software major added. Also, the company declared
that, IDC in one of its findings has estimated that, on average, 68 percent of a
three-year TCO consists of staffing and training costs, and another 15 percent
of TCO consists of expenses related to downtime. Acquisition costs for software
turn out to be just a fraction of TCO, averaging only about seven percent of the
total cost over three years. A 2009 survey of 150 CIOs by IDC shows that Windows
Server is at least eight percent cheaper than Linux server on overall TCO over a
period of three-five years. The IDC survey findings corroborate the fact that
Microsoft technologies have proven to offer lower TCO over the years. The survey
further reinforces the F&S 2005 TCO survey.

Further, clearing its stand on the OS issues, Microsoft concluded, "Microsoft
can share the primary benefits of commercial software in terms of encouraging
the culture of IP rights. IP helps organizations and software vendors across the
economic spectrum. Microsoft believes one of the major reasons for growth in the
Indian software market is because of adoption of IP by technology start-ups, as
well as end user organizations."

The picture ahead

Oracle's strategy of promoting open source software is by working with the
Open Source community depending on the nature of specific projects. "There are
various levels of involvement for Oracle with the Open Source community. There
are open source projects where we are involved at these different levels; adopt,
integrate and contribute, develop and distribute, and service," officials from
Oracle said.

However, with the issue of OS and proprietary software raging on, many state
governments in India have adopted a stance in favor of OS. States like Delhi,
Kerala and the north-eastern states

have already adopted the Open Document Format (ODF) advocating the use of OS
while others are expected to follow suit. Also, C-DAC, IIT Mumbai and IIM
Ahmedabad have also stepped in favor of ODF.

Avishek Rakshit

avishekr@cybermedia.co.in