The OSS Paradigm Shift Sherif El-Kassas Department of Computer Science The American University in Cairo

Open Source Software The Open Source Definition The Open Source Definition 1) Free Redistribution 2) Source Code 3) Allow the creation and distribution of Derived Works 4) Integrity of The Author's Source Code 5) No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups 6) No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor 7) …

What are typical 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 Security: Nessus, nmap, Snort, GPG, OpenSSL, OpenSSH

Who is using them? Business: Business: Amazon Amazon Hotmail Hotmail Yahoo Yahoo Service providers (TE DATA) Service providers (TE DATA) Universities (AUC’s new system) Universities (AUC’s new system) Governments Governments Individuals Individuals

Motivation and support

paises/europa/ue/2001/ida/OSS_Fac_sheet-usage_and_experience_made.pdf

europa/ue/2001/ida/OSS_Fact_sheet-market_structure.pdf

europa/ue/2001/ida/OSS_Fact_sheet-market_structure.pdf

IT Vendors

HW/SW vendors supporting Linux IBM IBM Linux on Intel servers, mid-range AS/400 (iSeries) and mainframes Linux on Intel servers, mid-range AS/400 (iSeries) and mainframes should unify IBM heterogeneous platforms should unify IBM heterogeneous platforms SUN SUN Linux on low- to medium-end, Solaris on high-end Linux on low- to medium-end, Solaris on high-end compatibility with Solaris compatibility with Solaris HP HP Linux in addition to HP-UX and Windows Linux in addition to HP-UX and Windows develop on Linux, deploy on Linux, Windows and HP-UX develop on Linux, deploy on Linux, Windows and HP-UX Papiers/Valduriez.PDF

SW vendors Netscape Netscape Client software made OSS in 1998 Client software made OSS in 1998 Mozilla.org to manage development Mozilla.org to manage development NPL = compromise GPL/BSD NPL = compromise GPL/BSD sale server software, services and content (with AOL) sale server software, services and content (with AOL) Oracle Oracle commitment to Linux, in addition to other OS commitment to Linux, in addition to other OS high-value proprietary software Papiers/Valduriez.PDF

Service vendors Linux distributors Linux distributors RedHat, Caldera, SuSe, Conectiva, TurboLinux, MandrakeSoft, etc RedHat, Caldera, SuSe, Conectiva, TurboLinux, MandrakeSoft, etc Sale customer support Sale customer support UnitedLinux.com to unify the various distributions UnitedLinux.com to unify the various distributions Application Service Providers Application Service Providers ASP1 ASP1 OSS and proprietary software as service OSS and proprietary software as service Papiers/Valduriez.PDF

Open source vs. closed source security! “demand open source code for anything related to security” “demand open source code for anything related to security” “Open Source Software certainly does have the potential to be more secure than its closed source counterpart. But make no mistake, simply being open source is no guarantee of security.” “Open Source Software certainly does have the potential to be more secure than its closed source counterpart. But make no mistake, simply being open source is no guarantee of security.”

OSS In Education

AT AUC The AUC mail system The AUC mail system Computer science courses Computer science courses Operating Systems Operating Systems Security Security Student Projects Student Projects Others… Others…

Paradigm Shifts

Mainframes Client/ Server WebTech P Zero OO Open Source Wireless ?

“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.” me=aprilnewsletter

Conclusions Is it a paradigm shift? Is it a paradigm shift? It will not totally replace what we know It will not totally replace what we know But we can benefit from it greatly in: But we can benefit from it greatly in: CS and IT education CS and IT education Research Research IT security IT security

Questions?