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On the Merits of the Open Source Model
Sherif El-KassasDepartment of Computer ScienceThe American University in Cairo
WIPO International Seminar on IP and Development
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 2
Outline
• Introduction• Users’ perspective
– Market share– Reliability– Performance– Security– Total cost of ownership
• Developer and Firm perspective – Work models– Strategic motivations
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 3
Introduction• Open Source Initiative: software is considered
“open source” if its distribution terms adhere to:1. Free redistribution; 2. The distribution must include the source code, and
allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form;
3. Derived Works: The license must allow modifications and derived works;
4. Integrity of The Source Code;5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups;6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor;7. Distribution of License;8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product;9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software; and10.License Must Be Technology-Neutral.
opensource.org/docs/def_print.php
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 4
“Basics of Open Source Software Markets and Business Models,” infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/reportPart3_basics_oss_markets_and_business_models.htm
Examples of Open Source Licenses
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 5
Software Examples
• Operating systems: Linux, FreeBSD• Specialized servers: Apache, Sendmail,
Samba, OpenLDAP• Tools: GCC, Perl, PHP, XML processors• Office: OpenOffice, StarOffice,• Middlewares: JONAS• DBMS: MySQL, PostgreSQL• Graphics: GIMP• Security: Nessus, nmap, Snort, GPG,
OpenSSL, OpenSSH
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 6
Outline
• Users’ perspective– Market share– Reliability– Performance– Security– Total cost of ownership
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 7
Market Share
• Market share or whether a product “is main stream” is an important decision making criteria
• “mainstream” more likely it is to find:– trained staff– product related resources– reduces associated risks– …
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 8
news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/01/01/january_2005_web_server_survey.html
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 9
2004 www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=51201599&tid=5979
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 10
Reliability
• Reliability is an important criterion when selecting mission critical software
• There is some evidence that suggests that open source software offers better reliability
• It maybe attributed to the development model of open source software
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 11
Failure Rates as Measured by Fuzz Tests
http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 12
Performance
• Performance tests are often controversial due to the many factors and assumptions that affect the results
• This often results in conflicting results and conclusions
• There have been successes for both open and closed source software
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 13
Security
• The fact that a program is open source does not make it automatically more secure
• “Public security is always more secure than proprietary security. It's true for cryptographic algorithms, security protocols, and security source code. […] open source isn't just a business model; it's smart engineering practice”
---Bruce Schneier, Crypto-Gram Newsletter, September1999
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 14
Total Cost of Ownership
• Important measure and decision making tool• Dependant on needs & environment• There have been numerous studies with mixed
and conflicting results• Some important cases show that open source
software has resulted in significant cost reduction
• every user considering open source solutions should conduct their own TCO study
• “[…] the long run total cost of operations (TCO) for a suite of proprietary software must necessarily be greater than that for an equivalent suite of free software […].”
--- Brendan Scott, www.members.optushome.com.au/brendanscott/papers/freesoftwaretco150702.html
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 15
Outline
• Developer and Firm perspective – Work models– Strategic motivations
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 16
Work Models
• The distributors• The software producers• Service providers
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 17
Distributors
• Firms that provide access to source code and open software products
• May sell CDs and customized versions of their products
• offering various update and support services to enterprise clients
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 18faculty.washington.edu/sandeep/d/bazaar.pdf
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 19
The Software Producer Model
• GPL vs. Non-GPL
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 20faculty.washington.edu/sandeep/d/bazaar.pdf
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 21faculty.washington.edu/sandeep/d/bazaar.pdf
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 22
Service Providers
• Depends on selling support and upgrade services
• Very important as a complement for the other work models
• The sale of open source software alone may not be enough to sustain a firm
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 23faculty.washington.edu/sandeep/d/bazaar.pdf
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 24
Strategic motivations
• some firm have used open source to influence their standing in other areas of the software and IT business
• Example:– SAP releasing is SAP DB database product as
open source enables it to reduce the over all price of its Enterprise Resource Planning application may enable it to compete more effectively.
– IBM may benefit from open source models to provide unified access to its diverse hardware platform which may lead to increased hardware sales.
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 25
Conclusions• The open source model has established itself
as an important and successful alternative to proprietary development models
• Users should consider open source platforms when making IT related decisions
• It may not be always possible to rely entirely on open source software– E.g., due to: availability, compatibility with existing
closed systems, or legal requirements
• Open source software seems to lowers the entry bar
• it makes sense to consider basing local development efforts on a suitable open source model
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 26
Questions?
Links:
http://www.cs.aucegypt.edu/~skassas/wipo/
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 27
http://banners.noticiasdot.com/termometro/boletines/docs/paises/europa/ue/2001/ida/OSS_Fact_sheet-market_structure.pdf
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 28
IT Vendors
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 29
HW/SW vendors supporting Linux
• IBM– Linux on Intel servers, mid-range AS/400
(iSeries) and mainframes– should unify IBM heterogeneous platforms
• HP– Linux in addition to HP-UX and Windows– develop on Linux, deploy on Linux,
Windows and HP-UXhttp://www.idei.asso.fr/Commun/Conferences/Internet/OSS2002/Papiers/Valduriez.PDF
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 30
SW vendors
• Netscape• Mozilla.org to manage development• NPL = compromise GPL/BSD• sale server software, services and
content (with AOL)
• Oracle– commitment to Linux– high-value proprietary software
http://www.idei.asso.fr/Commun/Conferences/Internet/OSS2002/Papiers/Valduriez.PDF
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 31
Service vendors
• Linux distributors– RedHat, Caldera, SuSe, Conectiva,
TurboLinux, MandrakeSoft, etc– Sale customer support– UnitedLinux.com to unify the various
distributions• Application Service Providers
– ASP1– OSS and proprietary software as service
http://www.idei.asso.fr/Commun/Conferences/Internet/OSS2002/Papiers/Valduriez.PDF
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 32
Is it a Paradigm Shift?
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 33
Mainframes
Client/Server
WebTech
P Zero
OO
OpenSourceWireless
?
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 34
“As the rule goes, when a paradigm shift occurs, everyone goes back to zero, which brings people back onto a level playing field or the same starting block.”
http://www.transknowformance.com/page.cfm?name=aprilnewsletter
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 35
Conclusions• Is it a paradigm shift?• It will not totally replace what we know• But we can benefit from it greatly in:
– CS and IT education– Research– IT security
• Others are building a new software (and copyright industry) based on new principals!
Geneva, May 2-3, 2005 36
Questions?
Links:[email protected]
http://www.cs.aucegypt.edu/~skassas/wipo/
