Minnesota Technology Magazine - Winter 2006
Open Season
The open source software movement is gaining steam, offering users flexibility, cost savings, and powerful applications. Is it time to get in on the action?
As the founder of St. Paul software company MindTouch Inc., Aaron R. Fulkerson goes by the title of “vice president of platform and evangelism,” a nod to his near-religious zeal for promoting the benefits and the development of “open source” (OS) software. That might seem a bit odd, if downright traitorous, considering Fulkerson learned the software industry while working for Microsoft, the biggest competitor of open source in the world.
In fact, as Fulkerson will tell you, one of the major reasons for open source derives from Microsoft’s hegemony in many software markets, from operating systems such as Windows to desktop suites and server solutions. An activist true to his cause, he developed MindTouch’s knowledge server— its major product—with open source software, and he plans to launch a project called the Minnesota Open Source Software Incubation Laboratory in the near future to promote communal OS efforts.
Created by programmers and developers who offer their software and program code free to the public, open source software offers the advantages of being peer reviewed, of having “more logically correct code,” and of being easily modified or added to by knowledgeable users, Fulkerson claims. “I’m convinced that proprietary software companies are going to be hard pressed to compete with companies that are on the open source side in the future,” he predicts.
Is he right? It may be a stretch to say OS will eventually turn software behemoths such as Microsoft and Oracle into mere storefront operations, but the movement has made a significant impact on software development over the past few years. OS software can be found on servers running Yahoo and Google, in Mozilla’s popular Firefox Web browser, in TiVO players, and in dozens of other household appliances. It also has played a role in two other high-profile components of the Web world. The world’s most popular Web server, by far, was developed by the Apache Software Foundation, a consortium of software developers who worked on the project largely for free. And the Linux operating system, so named for the man who coordinated its creation, Linus Torvalds, continues to gain adherents around the world.
Perhaps not surprisingly, businesses have begun to embrace OS. A study of 512 U.S. companies released last year by Boston-based Optaros Inc. reveals that 87 percent used OS systems such as Apache Web servers or OS browsers. The study also suggests 42 percent of participants use OS content management systems and portals, and 16 percent use it for customer relationship management. What’s more, the study notes that companies with revenues of more than $1 billion
saved an average of $3.3 million in 2004 by using OS, while medium-sized firms ($50 million to $1 billion) saved an average of $1.1 million.
Strong support for OS has come from large technology companies that either seek allies to compete with them against Microsoft or see a richer future in collaboration with other software developers. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems’ offers its Open Office suite, database platform Open Solaris, and the Java Web language—all for free. Novell Inc. of Waltham, Mass., began heavily supporting many OS initiatives in 2004. And Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM announced last year it will allow strategic partners to access more than 500 of its patents.
In short, if you’re not running OS now, it might be time to start—or at least learn more about it.
Close to Home
---F.J. |
THE STATE OF OS
Definitions of open source abound. In general terms, it can be defined as a community of programmers providing free downloadable software and for-sale programs designed on the OS platform. Some vendors use open source to create for-sale solutions, while others offer applications for free but charge to support them. Since users can actually see the code
in which the software is written in either of these approaches, they can make modifications, add features (or subtract them), and add new modules of functionality.
In addition, software written in OS provides—allegedly—a higher level of security than its non-OS counterparts, says Ethan Galstad, a Twin Cities-based developer of Nagios, an OS network monitoring tool. “There are a lot of eyes on the code to see if there are any glaring security problems or other issues,” he says, noting the military, the CIA, and other government agencies prefer OS solutions because of their better security.
Another obvious advantage is the cost and the ease of customization. Since the software can be downloaded for free or a nominal cost, the usual charges associated with licensing fees can decline to almost nothing, says Ron Fresquez, founder of the Roseville-based Open Source Technology Alliance. Part of the money once spent on software licenses will often go to pay consultants to install, customize, and support OS software, he suggests.
OS software also can be modified to provide solutions to small companies that are on par with what their larger corporate competitors use. “Open initiatives allow us to have complex enterprise tools we can scale down to small companies,” says Pat Christie, founder of StoneArch Software, a Minneapolis firm with a solution for companies required to comply with national and international codes and legislation. “With open source we can provide a technology that is the same technology that a Fortune 500 with a million-dollar budget gets. We couldn’t do that without open source.”
The downside of OS includes less documentation on some programs and no technical support phone numbers. “Unlike proprietary software, there’s not a throat to choke, but that is changing now that Novell, HP, Red Hat, and Sun have products in the marketplace,” says Fresquez, who adds that sophisticated users can locate dozens of user groups and Web sites devoted to explaining how to use and customize better known OS programs.
Still, OS faces skepticism based on whether it ends up saving businesses money in the long run since it sometimes requires the support of specialized consultants and IT staffers. “Chief technology officers ask, ‘What am I going to get if I use open source?’’’ says Jay Hansen, CEO of the Avalanche Corporate Technology Cooperative in Minneapolis. “It’s often the same functionality they get with proprietary products, but that’s not enough. The return on investment just isn’t there yet in its current form.”
While there is a vibrant Twin Cities-area OS community exists—more than a dozen IT shops provide OS solutions— many developers report that finding local clients is challenging. “In Minnesota we’re all good Lutherans and we’re slow to adopt new technology,” says Jeremy White, CEO of Minneapolis-based CodeWeavers Inc., creator of the product Crossover Office For
Windows. “We have customers here, but not significant numbers.”
OS LIVING LARGE
Perhaps the largest private application of OS in Minnesota has taken place through the
Avalanche Corporate Technology Cooperative. The 28-member organization—which
includes such corporate heavy hitters as Best Buy, Jostens, Monster.com, Merrill Corp., and
Imation—charges companies a subscription fee of anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 annually.
In return, members get an opportunity to share software solutions and technology deployment strategies with other members, Hansen explains. Additionally, the cooperative supports OS solutions for members on a subscription basis.
Avalanche’s motto is “making open source safe for corporate America,” and it demonstrates a clear return on investment in many projects. One of the most successful applications of its philosophy has been Minneapolis-based Jostens’ implementation of application integration software originally designed by Richfield-based Best Buy Inc. Since Jostens received the software free as an Avalanche member, the company saved $150,000 in licensing fees and $30,000 in maintenance fees, says Hansen. Another firm, Minneapolis-based employment screening company ePredix, saved $100,000 on developing an enterprise reporting tool last year before merging with an Atlanta company, he says.
Regional, closed-loop approaches of like-sized companies may represent one future for OS, even if the code stays in the equivalent of a gated community. “I believe that will be the case,” says Hansen. “I think there will be geographic considerations in sharing this kind of information.”
Local OS projects often have a national and international reach. The University of Minnesota, a hotbed of OS activity, created a program called OS Portfolio Initiative that students can use to showcase their work in any discipline. The university did not have the money to fully create the software itself so it collaborated with other institutions, including the Universities of Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, and MIT, among others, says Kari Branjord, director of Open Source Systems and Strategic Partnerships in the U of M’s enterprise application systems department. “We needed to take advantage of the learning of others across the country and not just the learning we had achieved in our own microcosm,” she says. “To build as robust a system as we needed, we couldn’t fund it ourselves, and there were other institutions interested in helping us create the software.”
The state of Minnesota operates many Apache OS servers and has OS programs operating in some departments, says Steve Stedman, the state’s chief technology officer. Legislation passed last year requires state IT managers to consider open solutions in the future, says Stedman, who believes that once certain legal hurdles have been clarified by the OS community, Minnesota’s state government may begin a more aggressive move toward OS solutions.
A state government IT conference last year offered a day of 22 sessions focused on various aspects of OS presented by local and national experts—a clear indication of a growing interest. “The [OS] product offerings and automation tools work just fine,” Stedman notes. “Over time, I think we will be migrating away from some proprietary solutions, especially in the underlying structure we have for storing information. We will likely have more open standards in that area.”
OS LIVING SMALL
Smaller companies, of course, may reap bigger rewards than Fortune 500s and colleges by deploying OS solutions. The Market Solutions Group Inc. of Minneapolis, which does survey research, uses servers operated by Linux, as well as those running Microsoft. On the desktop, it’s a Microsoft shop; underneath it is open source. “It’s been a money-saver for us,” says
Michael Rossow, the information services manager who hired Golden Valley firm, a CoupleofGurus.com, to handle the installation. “We think the servers running Linux offer a more reliable platform than the Windows’ servers, and are more reliable in terms of less time keeping them up to date.”
Bruce Stasch, director of sales for Minneapolis-based Apex Marketing Group, recently hired a Toronto consultant to build his clubbuilders.net Web site using osCommerce software. Stasch, who also operates golfknockoff.com, found a few of his Web competitors using osCommerce and decided to deploy it for his new site. He’s found a rich number of modules—all free—that can add functionality to the site should he need them. “I found that a lot of thought had been put into osCommerce before I began using it and that there were many Web sites that answered my questions,” he says. “The cost I pay to have it hosted is cheaper by half, or two-thirds, than my other Web site, which is in a Microsoft environment.”
Adayana, a Minneapolis company that provides e-learning and other customized solutions, uses a mixture of open source and propriety software when designing tools for clients, says Joshua Byrne, its chief technology officer. “We look at the problems and opportunities of commercial and open source solutions, and we look at the advantages and disadvantages of using each of them,” he explains. “And more often than not, we use an open source solution.”
Byrne makes clear he’s no evangelist. Like many in the IT field, he prefers a vision of seeing OS create a more level playing field by offering a greater variety of solutions. Others feel more strongly. “Open source represents a sea change in the way software and the digital world are constructed,” says White, of CodeWeavers. “We’ll look back 15 years from now and say,‘this is like the world should be.’ It will become clearer then that we’re now at the beginning of the open source revolution in the digital world.”
Frank Jossi is a St. Paul-based freelance writer.
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