Free/Libre and Open Source Software The Indian Context Sachin Garg
Prabhu Srivastava
NavankurIT
19th November, 2010
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Outline
1
Introduction
2
FLOSS in India
3
Challenges to FLOSS
Sachin Garg, Prabhu Srivastava (NavankurIT)
Introduction
Issue: Indian IT Sector is not participating enough in the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) World
Impact: India is unable to leverage the full potential of FLOSS, which could make Indian industry and the IT sector uncompetitive, owing to missing out on the innovative and financial benefits of FLOSS Contribution: Develop an overarching strategy that the Indian IT Services companies could adopt so as to participate in the world of FLOSS
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What is Free/Libre and Open Source Software?
Free/Libre and Open Source Software, often abbreviated as F/LOSS or F(L)OSS is: Umbrella term describing software whose source code is readily available and modifiable under several liberal licenses Model for collaborative work The Linux® kernel is amongst the best known FLOSS
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Why F(L)OSS?
F(L)OSS provides adopters with the follwoing unique benefits: Save money Ability to tailor and customise to fit local needs No license administration hassles and liabilities Legal to copy and distribute software multiple times Free, lifetime upgrades Vendor independence and non-obsolescense
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What F(L)OSS?
F(L)OSS available for almost every conceivable IT requirement and need: LAMP — Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP is the stack that runs the Internet Perl, PHP, Python are well-known programming languages GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, OpenOffice — well-known office productivity tools Apache OFBiz, OpenERP, SugarCRM, Pentaho are business software Asterisk — Free VOIP EPABX system Google Android, the world’s 2nd most used smartphone OS is based on Linux
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World Wide Open Source Activity Map
Figure: Image 1
http://www.redhat.com/about/where-is-open-source/activity/ Sachin Garg, Prabhu Srivastava (NavankurIT)
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India on the Open Source Activity Map
Figure: Image 2
http://www.redhat.com/about/where-is-open-source/activity/ Sachin Garg, Prabhu Srivastava (NavankurIT)
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Impact of Low Intensity FLOSS Activity Areas with a Low Intensity of Free/Libre Open Source Software activity are Split by the Digital Divide Unable to influence direction of Open Source Projects and tailor them to their needs Therefore, It is a problem, as local needs are not being met and developing countries are consumers not creators of open source software.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/software/stories/135384.html Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam: The most unfortunate thing is that India still seems to believe in proprietary solutions. In India, open source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people
http://news.cnet.com/India-leader-advocates-open-source/ 2100-1016_3-1011255.html Sachin Garg, Prabhu Srivastava (NavankurIT)
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Economic Impact of FLOSS - IIMB Study I September 2009 study by Prof. Rahul De’ of IIM, Bangalore. Economic Impact of Free and Open Source Software - A Study in India.
http://www.iimb.ernet.in/~rahulde/RD_FOSSRep2009.pdf Study included multiple Indian IT user organisations across the spectrum Substitution of Proprietary Software with FLOSS can potentially save Ï Ï
≈ Rs. 10,000 cr. (USD 2bn) in Direct Software, ≈ Rs. 2,000 cr. (USD 740mn) in Complementary Software,
Costs
Strong intangible, but unquantifiable benefits related to innovating with FLOSS
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Economic Impact of FLOSS - IIMB Study II
Company IT@School, Kerala
Project Savings Replace MS-Windows on INR 49 crores 50,000 desktops in schools LIC IT infrastructure of 3,500 INR 42 crores servers and 30,000 desktops running FLOSS New India Assur- IT infrastructure of 1,500 INR 80 crores ance Germany servers and 7000 desktops
Table: Some Real Life examples from the IIMB Study
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Challenges to FLOSS
Lack of awareness: Still considered as something in the domain of geeks. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt: or FUD. Example October, 2010 video advertisement released by Microsoft trashing OpenOffice.org Learning Curve: The abundance of FUD coupled with the lack of awareness and end-user expectation of feature-by-feature parity makes this curve steeper than for others. Licensing and IPR: F(L)OSS licensing conditions aim to provide users and developers alike with certain freedoms. There are multiple licenses, some of which are also incompatible with each other. Awareness of F(L)OSS licensing is also low.
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