Transcript Document
Where is FOSS today?
WITS FOSS AWARENESS EVENT
September 2009
Arno Webb
Programme Manager
FOSS Programme Office
State Information Technology Agency
What is free open source software
(FOSS)
FOSS is typically developed through public
collaboration
Available to anyone (usually at little or no cost)
Does not require proprietary license fees
May be freely re-distributed
Users also have access to the human readable
version of the software called the “source code”
The use, modification and redistribution of the
source code is governed by rules specified in
associated nonproprietary open source licenses.
2
Recent FOSS history in government
2002
Acknowledgement
that FOSS is enterprose ready.
Public service FOSS work group established.
2003
First
survey shows little FOSS knowledge in
government.
Cabinet approves first strategy. Emphasis on knowledge
dissemination.
2007
Current
policy adopted.
3
Government policy 2007
1) The South African Government will implement FOSS unless
proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior.
Whenever the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software
are comparable FOSS will be implemented when choosing a
software solution for a new project. Whenever FOSS is not
implemented, then reasons must be provided in order to justify
the implementation of proprietary software.
2) The South African Government will migrate current proprietary
software to FOSS whenever comparable software exists.
3) All new software developed for or by the South African
Government will be based on open standards, adherent to
FOSS principles, and licensed using a FOSS license where
possible.
Migrate to
FOSS
FOSS, open stds
based developmt
4) The South African Government will ensure all Government
content and content developed using Government resources is
made Open Content, unless analysis on specific content shows
that proprietary licensing or confidentiality is substantially
beneficial.
5) The South African Government will encourage the use of Open
Content and Open Standards within South Africa.
Choose
FOSS
Open
content
Promote
outside govt
4
Status quo
Rest
of the world:
Several examples, e.g. in “Study on the economic impact of open
source software on innovation and the competitiveness of the
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in
the EU.”
South African
government:
Full migrations at Presidential National Commission, National
Library
Significant progress at a number of national departments (e.g.
SARS), provincial departments, e.g. Limpopo Dept of Health,
local governments, e.g. Ethikweni
as well as SITA.
5
FOSS penetration in government
Of
all national departments -
More
than half have some FOSS implementation plans.
About 25% use FOSS web servers.
About 40% use FOSS in some form at the back end.
At least 12% use some FOSS on desktops.
6
nd
2
and
rd
3
spheres of government
All
provincial governments use some FOSS,
mostly back end.
Some government agencies, e.g. SARS, National
Library make significant use of FOSS.
Our biggest opportunity may be local government.
Some municipalities have little or no IT infrasture.
Their budget limitations should make FOSS
attractive.
7
Most widely used software
Distros:
Red Hat, Suse, Ubuntu
Groupware: Zimbra, some Kolab, Thunderbird
OpenOffice.org
Firefox
Z-Linux on mainframe for proprietary databases
Alfresco electronic content management
Xmind, Freemind mind mapping
Sakai elearning software
Interfacing with proprietary software via Citrix,
Crossover (found to be resource-intensive)
8
Global trends
In
our times the cost benefits of FOSS
are important:
“Our
analysis has been performed on six organizations
in different European countries. The majority of them
are public bodies. The organizations have followed
different types of migration on the base of their
context.…
Our findings show that, in almost all the cases, a
transition toward open source reports of savings on the
long term – costs of ownership of the software
products.”
9
From a Forrester Report (USA)
87 percent of those surveyed realized the cost
savings they expected from open source;
92 percent of respondents have had their quality
expectations met or exceeded by open-source
software.
(http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10118123-16.html, 09/06/23)
10
Shifting focus
“It used to make sense to talk about open source
as a separate line item in the enterprise IT
lexicon. However, open source has become
such a standard way of delivering enterprise
IT that maybe it's time to update the lexicon.
(CNET News, 3 March 2009)
11
Challenges
Commitment
Support capacity
Standards, policies,
procedures
Energetic promotion by proprietary
software providers
12
Phases
2003
– 2007
Information
sharing
Implementation by early adopters
2007
– 2011
Build
the ecosystem
Generate commitment
Facilitate implementation
2011
Start
a comprehensive phase-in schedule
13
Current trend
“Open source is furniture
now: everyone has it,
but perhaps they don't
think about it.” (CNET
News, 3 March 2009)
14
SITA's FOSS Programme
Office (FPO) work areas
Skills
development
Solution development
Implementation support
Decision support
Planning, monitoring &
assessment
15
Competency centres •GOVERNANCE
...
•Control board
•Boards of governor
•Advisory council
Governing
partnership
SITA
PALAMA
CPSI
CSIR
ISSA
DoC
DST
DPSA
DoE
DTI
Operating systems,
web services
database systems
development platforms
user training
•Competency
centre
+/- 15 across the
country
Govt funding sliding
from 100% to 0%
over 5 years
Located at SITA
regional offices,
academic institutions
or other
•National and provincial
government offices
•Local government
•E-cooperatives
•Schools
•Local NGOs
•Local businesses
ECM
GIS
Groupware
Education
GNULinux/distros
Localisation
Telephony
ODF/OpenOffice
Database software
OSS for Health
OSS for social development
OSS for SMMEs
OSS for civil society
•Delivery
partnership
Academic
institution
SMME
SITA
ICT corporate
Science council
Aid agencies of
other countries
•Services
FOSS training
FOSS support
FOSS rating and
development
16
THANK
YOU
17