S t a t e I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y A g e n c y

Where is FOSS today?

WITS FOSS AWARENESS EVENT

September 2009

Arno WebbProgramme Manager

FOSS Programme Office

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What is free open source software (FOSS) FOSS is typically developed through public

collaboration Available to anyone (usually at little or no cost) Does not require proprietary license fees May be freely re-distributed Users also have access to the human readable

version of the software called the “source code” The use, modification and redistribution of the

source code is governed by rules specified in associated nonproprietary open source licenses.

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Recent FOSS history in government

2002Acknowledgement that FOSS is enterprose ready.Public service FOSS work group established.

2003First survey shows little FOSS knowledge in

government.Cabinet approves first strategy. Emphasis on

knowledge dissemination.2007

Current policy adopted.

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Government policy 20071) The South African Government will implement FOSS unless

proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior. Whenever the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software are comparable FOSS will be implemented when choosing a software solution for a new project. Whenever FOSS is not implemented, then reasons must be provided in order to justify the implementation of proprietary software.

2) The South African Government will migrate current proprietary software to FOSS whenever comparable software exists.

3) All new software developed for or by the South African Government will be based on open standards, adherent to FOSS principles, and licensed using a FOSS license where possible.

4) The South African Government will ensure all Government content and content developed using Government resources is made Open Content, unless analysis on specific content shows that proprietary licensing or confidentiality is substantially beneficial.

5) The South African Government will encourage the use of Open Content and Open Standards within South Africa.

Choose FOSS

Migrate to FOSS

FOSS, open stds based developmt

Open content

Promote outside govt

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Status quo

Rest of the world: Several examples, e.g. in “Study on the economic impact of open

source software on innovation and the competitiveness of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in the EU.”

South African government: Full migrations at Presidential National Commission, National

Library Significant progress at a number of national departments (e.g.

SARS), provincial departments, e.g. Limpopo Dept of Health, local governments, e.g. Ethikweni

as well as SITA.

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FOSS penetration in government

Of all national departments - More than half have some FOSS implementation plans.About 25% use FOSS web servers.About 40% use FOSS in some form at the back end.At least 12% use some FOSS on desktops.

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2nd and 3rd spheres of government

All provincial governments use some FOSS, mostly back end.

Some government agencies, e.g. SARS, National Library make significant use of FOSS.

Our biggest opportunity may be local government. Some municipalities have little or no IT infrasture. Their budget limitations should make FOSS attractive.

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Most widely used software

Distros: Red Hat, Suse, UbuntuGroupware: Zimbra, some Kolab, ThunderbirdOpenOffice.orgFirefoxZ-Linux on mainframe for proprietary databasesAlfresco electronic content managementXmind, Freemind mind mappingSakai elearning softwareInterfacing with proprietary software via Citrix,

Crossover (found to be resource-intensive)

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Global trends

In our times the cost benefits of FOSS are important: “Our analysis has been performed on six organizations

in different European countries. The majority of them are public bodies. The organizations have followed different types of migration on the base of their context.…

Our findings show that, in almost all the cases, a transition toward open source reports of savings on the long term – costs of ownership of the software products.”

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From a Forrester Report (USA)

87 percent of those surveyed realized the cost savings they expected from open source;

92 percent of respondents have had their quality expectations met or exceeded by open-source software.

(http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10118123-16.html, 09/06/23)

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Shifting focus

“It used to make sense to talk about open source as a separate line item in the enterprise IT lexicon. However, open source has become such a standard way of delivering enterprise IT that maybe it's time to update the lexicon.

(CNET News, 3 March 2009)

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Challenges

CommitmentSupport capacityStandards, policies, proceduresEnergetic promotion by proprietary

software providers

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Phases

2003 – 2007 Information sharing Implementation by early adopters

2007 – 2011Build the ecosystemGenerate commitmentFacilitate implementation

2011Start a comprehensive phase-in schedule

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Current trend

“Open source is furniture now: everyone has it, but perhaps they don't think about it.” (CNET News, 3 March 2009)

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SITA's FOSS Programme Office (FPO) work areas

Skills developmentSolution developmentImplementation supportDecision supportPlanning, monitoring &

assessment

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Competency centres ...•GOVERNANCE•Control board

•Boards of governor•Advisory councilGoverning

partnershipSITA

PALAMACPSICSIRISSADoCDST

DPSADoEDTI

•Delivery partnership Academic

institution SMME SITA ICT corporate Science council Aid agencies of

other countries

•Competency centre +/- 15 across the

country Govt funding sliding

from 100% to 0% over 5 years

Located at SITA regional offices, academic institutions or other

FOSS support

•National and provincial government offices•Local government•E-cooperatives•Schools•Local NGOs•Local businesses

FOSS rating and development

•ServicesFOSS training

Operating systems,web servicesdatabase systems development platformsuser training

ECM GIS Groupware Education GNULinux/distros Localisation Telephony ODF/OpenOfficeDatabase softwareOSS for Health OSS for social development OSS for SMMEs OSS for civil society

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THANK YOU

arno.webb@sita.co.za