OSSG: Open Source doesn’t always represent the best value Janus Boye - jb@jboye.com

London, January 2010

Who is Janus Boye?

•  Founder of J. Boye – known for vendor-neutral blog, community of practice and conferences •  225 members, divided into several groups •  Why community of practice:

•  Much to gain from sharing ideas •  No “one correct route” •  Frequent changes in priorities

Some of our members

Alfa Laval, Amnesty, Arup, Borealis, Carlsberg, City of Aarhus, Danfoss, Danish Agency for Governmental Management, Elexon, Environment Agency, European Patent Office, LEGO, Maersk, Medtronic, Nordea, Odense University Hospital, Specsavers, Swarovski, SWIFT, UNHCR, Unilever, University of Copenhagen, Wienerberger, WWF

Agenda Confusion

Open source issues 1.  Support & Training 2.  Risks 3.  Requirements 4.  Implementation 5.  Community

Your opportunity

An Open Source of Confusion

Open source •  Low cost •  Pay for services •  Ease of customisation •  Open platforms •  Community support •  Future proofing •  “Try before you buy”

Commercial •  High cost •  Pay for software •  Difficult to customise •  Proprietary platforms •  No community support •  Short-term •  “Buy before you try”

True or False?

Clay Shirky “The bulk of open source projects fail” “The bulk of open source projects fail, and most of the remaining successes are quite modest. But does that mean the threat from open systems generally is overrated and the commercial software industry can breathe easy? Here the answer is no. Open source is a profound threat, not because the open source ecosystem is outsuccessing commercial efforts but because it is outfailing them. Because the open source ecosystem, and by extension open social ecosystems generally, rely on peer production, the work on those systems can be considerably more experimental at a considerable less cost, than any firm can afford” (from page 245 of the hard cover version)

Nick Carr

“Simply put, it remains difficult, if not impossible, to draw any broad conclusions about IT's effect on the competitiveness and profitability of individual businesses”

1) Support & Training

• Who will you call?

• Quality of documentation

2) Risks

• Early mover disadvantages

• Who is responsible for bug fixing ?

• Systems don’t last forever – who will help you when they die?

•  e.g. HyperContent, Mambo

3) Requirements

Case:

• Recognized that no system is perfect and meets all requirements

• Selected Plone for initial scoping exercise with small integrator

4) Implementation

• Significant cost factor

• Would you implement yourself?

5) Community

• What are your plans for engaging with the community?

Case:

•  Selected TYPO3 and decided to work with small integrator while building their own implementation skills •  Attended TYPO3 conference and actively participates in community

Your opportunity

1. You can save money with open source

2. Engage with the community

3. Look beyond technology when selecting a new vendor / system

Make the right decisions

Sources of vendor-neutral inspiration

CMS Watch - www.cmswatch.com

Content Here by Seth Gottlieb www.contenthere.com

Graham Oakes - www.grahamoakes.co.uk

IntranetFocus by Martin White www.intranetfocus.com

Jon On Tech – www.jonontech.com

Step Two Designs - www.steptwo.com.au

Continue the conversation… •  J. Boye Blog: jboye.com/blog

•  Community of Practice: jboye.com/community-of-practice

•  Email: jb@jboye.dk

•  Twitter: @janusboye

•  LinkedIn: http://dk.linkedin.com/in/janusboye