Effective IT solutions Using Open Source Software dr. comp. sci. Valdis Vītoliņš Odo Ltd, Latvian Open Technology Association Baltic Spark April

Agenda ● How to be effective? ● What is open source? ● Why open source is effective? ● What are few examples? ● What should you do?

How to be Effective? Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic Arthur C. Clarke Everything what can be digitalized, can be handled for almost free So, don't move boxes, move bits

Software Technology Shift Usage Time Today MainframeStandalone PCClient-ServerWebOpen Source

Free (Libre) Software Free Software movement was introduced by Richard Stallman Free software guarantees following freedoms to users: 1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. 2. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish. 3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. 4. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Richard M. Stallman Author of GNU tools and GPL licence

Free Software versus Open Source Eric Raymond "rebranded" free software as "open source" and proved that: ● Open source is not only "morally right" ● It is also more effective software development approach To adjust free software principles for business needs, he introduced more "weak" principles: ● Author can redistribute using different licenses ● Limited usage of trademarks for derived works Eric S. Raymond Author of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar"

What Open Source Software Provides Low cost "Good programmers write code, excellent programmers reuse and rewrite" High quality "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow!" No vendor lock-in All software users and vendors are equal Multiple choices No tough question about "Buy or build?" Software as a commodity Time when software was scarce resource has gone

How Open Source Does It? Resources on demand Virtualization allows to prepare resources in minutes No hardware shipment, no tedious planning No accountants for tracking license fees Open standards Open source is "working standard" Anyone is free to analyze it and check for conformity That makes integration easier and lowers integration costs Thin clients All that needed is Web browser (in computer, laptop, netbook, phone, etc.) No installation, no upgrades on the client side Low initial investments "Fail early, fail often!" Using open source you can easily test/check if software fits your needs and move on

New Business Models Open source is effective and agile production and distribution approach Open Source is not technology or business model, but it allows to use advanced business models Freemium So called "Open core" as a new shareware. Main functionality is free, but premium services are for money Mainstream for Web 2.0 applications Dual licensing Open source version is for all, but closed version for those who can't/won't use open source Popular for infrastructure applications and tools Maintenance, system integration and consultations So called "Pure open source" Popular for new age software vendors "Software industry is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry." Eric S. Raymond, "The Magic Cauldron"

Open Source Software for Business Productivity/Office Software OpenOffice Internet clients Firefox, Thunderbird Operating systems Linux (e.g. Ubuntu), BSD Collaboration and knowledge management Media Wiki, Xwiki Content management Drupal, Joomla Document management Alfresco Customer relationships management Sugar CRM Enterprise resource planning Openbravo, OpenERP Data mining Pentaho, Jaspersoft

Do It Yourself Barack Obama won elections with slogan "Yes, we can!" This is true for you also You can't be competitive if most of answers from your software vendor are "No, you can't!" Start using Open Source software. You are not forced to do all yourselves, but if you can, you are not deadly dependent on your provider. 99% of open source of clients, who start use paid support, are using this software already! Start using Open Source software. You are not forced to do all yourselves, but if you can, you are not deadly dependent on your provider. 99% of open source of clients, who start use paid support, are using this software already! Barack Obama 44th President of the United States

Who Use Open Source? Open source are using: Your suppliers even though they don't say that Your clients even though they don't know that Your competitors even though you don't now that Question is not "What does it cost?" Question is "How can we use it?" Question is not "What does it cost?" Question is "How can we use it?"

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