Class 25, July 08 Globalization of IT

8/9/2019 Class 25, July 08 Globalization of IT

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Issues Related to

1. Free Software

&2. Globalization of IT

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Free Software

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Classification of Free SoftwareClassification of Free Software

Considering time as parameter for classification,free software can be classified as follows:

There may be other parameter based classifications

too, say financial and intellectual, or any other.

Time dependent Time independent

Unfinished productsTime-bound

Component basedVariant based

Architecture based

Usage based

User type based

Intellectual property basedTotal freeware

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Unfinished software ProductUnfinished software Product

Typically called "Beta" in S/W jargon, may or maynot have full functionality, usually buggy.

Usually time restricted. The vendor may give a key

that activates the software on the computer, and

keeps it active for a pre-determined period.

The vendor may or may not support during Beta

except basic installation and user instructions.

The vendor's business goal is twofold:To assess acceptance of the target users, and

To reduce bugs before the product is released.

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Time-bound Software ProductsTime-bound Software Products

This class of software has two sub-classes:First is that which expires after a limited periodof

usage. However, is possible to remove the registry

entries of the software and reinstall it. Ex Winzip?

Second is that which expires on a particular date.It may be possible for the user to reset the system

date. However, it cannot be used in regular

production environment, as resetting the system

makes the user lose the correct usage logs.

Vendor's goal is to get the user hooked to using the

product, and hope that the accustomed user will opt

for purchasing it in the market. 6


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Component-Based Free SoftwareComponent-Based Free Software

In this class of S/W, vendor gives away a part of theS/W without any obligation to purchase other parts.

Other parts can be purchased by user, if required.

For example:

Adobe gives Acrobat Reader free, while the onefor creating pdf documents is priced.

Power Point viewer is free, but the software used

to create presentation slides is a priced product.

Business goal is to establish a standard or set a

benchmark/make the product more widespread,

thereby increasing the market share.

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Variant-Based Free SoftwareVariant-Based Free Software

In one sub-class, vendor gives away basic product

free and one with advanced features at a price.

In another sub-class, the product on a particular OS

may be free, while be priced on other OS.

The vendor's business goal is to promote theproduct through first-hand experience, and hook the

user on the promoted product.

This is also targeted at advanced users who need

to use better designs (as in S/W development), orenjoy better experience.

Basic Java edition, Real Media Player are some

examples.8


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Architecture-Based Free SoftwareArchitecture-Based Free Software

Freedom of usage can be restricted by technology

in products that are "multi-tier" (i.e., the S/W that

requires 2 or more computers to be in a network).

The vendor gives away the client tierorsingle userlicense free, while the other tiers may be priced:

Quite common in products that are used by

organizations (Enterprise Software class of

products).

Business goal is to prompt organizations to

purchase feature-rich software for all their users.

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Usage-Based Free SoftwareUsage-Based Free Software

Here licensing terms depend on the type of usage.

In 1stsub-class, the licensing depends on the

purpose of software usage, say development or

application deployment. Most make deployment

licenses priced, but development license free.In 2nd, usage can be restricted by parameters like

certain number of installations, underlying hardware

(RISC, CISC), number of processors, number of

concurrent users etc.The business goal of the vendor is usually to get the

users accustomed to the product and acquire the

market once the users' product usage increases.10


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UserType-Based Free SoftwareUserType-Based Free Software

In this class, the restriction is based on the type ofuser home orcommercial.

Home users can usually get to use the software

free, while businesses need to purchase.

The vendor's business goal is to address the high

revenue segment of the market and building mind

share among all types of users.

The premise is that a user is likely to recommendusage of a software to the employer, if happy with

using the free variant on home computer.

PowerZip file compression software which is free for

non-commercial use, but priced for commercial use.11


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IPRs-Based Free SoftwareIPRs-Based Free Software

Here, S/W is given free, sometimes including thesource code. Freedom is restricted thro contracts.

Users are not allowed to modify the original product

w/o prior consent from the vendor.

Well propagated by Sun Microsystems.

The business goal is to attract users to the latest

version of the software, while giving away the older

version and its source code free for enhancements.

Also to incorporate the advantages of the product

enhancements that the open source community

brings about (if the older version is opened up for

the free developer community). 12


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Open and Free SoftwareOpen and Free Software

Under this class, the software is developed eitherby software enthusiasts, or companies which may

contribute their products to the open source

community.

Everything, including the source code is open. S/Wis distributed under General Public License (GPL).

Under GPL, anyone can develop enhancements ,

but they have to be under GPL too.

All OSS - Wikipedia etc are examples

Anyone is free to redistribute the product for free

(may charge a nominal amount for media like CD)

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Software for Societal GoodSoftware for Societal Good

These software inculcate the true

spirit of Free and Open Source

Software (FOSS).The classic examples are Linuxand

Apache.

FOSS is easily among the greatest

and most involving movements of

the twentieth century.14


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SupportIssues with Free softwareSupportIssues with Free softwareFree S/W is good. But support after sale of the S/W

becomes a necessity. So, how is it provided?

For total freeware (open source), support is

surprisingly a real delight, many a times contrary to

that of the priced products.

Users post their queries to user groups and get

them clarified in global time tech. enthusiasts are

awake around the globe, and are genuinely

interested in providing help and fixing the bugs.New features also get incorporated into the open

source products faster than to priced products (it is

said the comparison is 1 week versus 3 years).

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Effects of Free Software on

Vendors

Effects of Free Software on

Vendors

Giving a product free can increase the usage baseand help the product become a standard per se.

Feedback can improve product quality to make it

more robust (it is like outsourcing testing to earlyadopters, reducing product engineering cost )

Evaluation can reduce product development cycle,

especially as the vendor gets to know what features

are important to the users.Bundling FOSS & Services with H/W presents a

great value proposition to the buyers by reducing

their software license procurement costs to zero.16


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Effects of Free Software on UsersEffects of Free Software on Users

The biggest is that users need not pay for the S/W.So, why all R not moving to free software? May be:

More efforts required to learn and use the free S/W.

The product/technology road map may not be clear/

vendor may not be able to give S/W free any more.

The "free" spirit may lose momentum - similar to

commercial vendor closing the shop.

Free software gets longer to become a mainstreamproduct which may affect even paid support.

Some developments have increased the adoption of

freeware one is "live CD that allows experiencing

Linux without installing it insert CD & reboot. 17


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Free IT ServicesFree IT Services

As with software products, free services too havespecific licensing terms. A few variants of services

may be free while others may be priced.

Using Skype, calls across computers for Skype-

Skype clients are free but calls from IP networks toPSTN networks (and vice-versa) are priced.

There are other software that bridge users across

service providers e.g., now Yahoo and MSN instant

messaging users can communicate with one-another and likewise with GoogleTalk.

Google offers services of translation across human

written languages and office software.18


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Globalization of InformationTechnology

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OverviewOverview

Globalization (G11n) is enabling products and

services to work globally, in various environments

that exist in different countries.

Will discuss G11n in the IT context, and also itsimportance in marketing of IT.

We will also study components of IT G11n,

Processes IT vendors are required to follow toglobalize the products and services

How G11n can help in marketing of IT.

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Why Globalize IT Productsand

Services?

Why Globalize IT Productsand

Services?G11n of IT products & services to meet the buyers'

local needs may be a regulatory requirement, or an

effort to encash opportunitylost to competition

Many vendors have realized this and engineered

their products and services for the local markets.

Need for G11n may not necessarily arise from the

foreign markets. It can be necessitated from the

home country itself. Example of this are:Digital display of messages and announcements

in multi-lingual formats on railway stations

Telcos services in local as well as in English.22


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Components of GlobalizationComponents of Globalization

Globalization (G11n) is not just about

language or interfaces in local languages.

The following are the components of G11n:Engineering (Internationalization - I18n)

Localization (L10n)

Globalized technical support

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EngineeringI18nEngineeringI18nI18n involves engineering to suit local engineering

requirements - electricity interfaces, network &regulatory requirements, logs and reports in local

languages etc. There are many approaches:

UniversalUsability Engineering: Engineer the

product or service to make it workable universally

(in any country). For this it has to be engineered for

multiple country requirements TV

The advantage is that the product can be made(engineered and manufactured) in any country, and

be exported to any other country.

Hence IT vendors that have globally distributed

production facilities commonly adopt this approach.24


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EngineeringI18n(Contd)EngineeringI18n(Contd)

Country-specific Engineering: Engineer

specifically for destination-countries/markets.Customization Engineering: Involves releasing

basic product/service compatible with multiple

languages, engineering specs, and formats, but

leave the customization to the buyer or reseller.

For this APIs, H/W or S/W adapters, converters

and configurable user interfaces are provided.

This minimizes the engineering cost significantly,but faces the risk of revealing the IT product/service

details (intellectual property) to outsiders.

PAL/NTSC Convertor for TVs or Camcorders

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EngineeringI18n (Contd)EngineeringI18n (Contd)

Business Logic I18n: Subset of Engineering I18n.Involves adapting the business practices and rules

of other markets currencies, taxation rules, units

of measurement, text display, etc. Islamic banking

laws (useful for insurance software).Localization: Involves development of all user-

facing components such as product interface and

documentation in local languages.

To implement L10n, the underlying IT product must

be internationalized to support local languages of

the destination markets. Hindi /Chinese for example

Generally, companies outsource. Have given list. 26


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EngineeringI18n (Contd)EngineeringI18n (Contd)

For L10n, the product has to be engineered to:Handle user inputs of various languages.

Do mathematical and logical operations for

business, as required by regulation.

Provide output in various languages, either in text,

audio or video.

Display the text output of the operations correctly to

the user with the correct formatting on devices.Process country-specific data and file formats.

Package the product in the locally acceptable way.

Implement Engineering I18n27


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Globalized Technical SupportGlobalized Technical Support

Globalization of an IT product is incomplete if

the support is not provided in the local

context.Support can be provided to buyers in their

local context if the support personnel speak

in the local languages.

However, for support to be completely

globalized, the product itself be globalized

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Open Source and L10nOpen Source and L10n

In the open source world, as the product interface

engineering source code is available free to modify,

engineers around the world localize the product.

In fact, open source L10n is far easily done than by

commercial companies, simply because the source

code is accessible to every enthusiast, and is also

free to modify, without IPR barriers.Open source L10n also helps the social cause of

spreading computer literacy to the masses.

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The G11n players,and the

Process in the Commercial Market

The G11n players,and the

Process in the Commercial Market

Various players and their roles are as follows:

Trainer: Trains the vendor engineers on

internationalized S/W & H/W design & development,

language usage, etiquettes of communication etc.L10n Contractor: Translates the items that need

L10n from source to destination language.

Vendor:Accomplishes the globalized engineering

and verifies same from the engineering perspective.

The Reviewer: Verifies the product/service before it

is released into the market. It is better to engage

local resellers in the review of products/services. 30


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Impact of L10n on Marketingand

Sales

Impact of L10n on Marketingand

Sales

Localizing gets it access to the market, which would

not have been possible otherwise.

The buyers feel confident to buy such a product, as

it gives them a sense of being valued by the vendor.Localizing the product can get political mileage, and

an edge while selling to the local government.

Provides opportunities for more revenues.

Pre-sales support becomes a lot easier, because

the buyers can relate to the product more.

Post-sales support however poses a big challenge

since it calls for huge investments in local resources31

Class 25, July 08 Globalization of IT

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