Lack of familiarity is open source's biggest enemy
Lack of familiarity is open source's biggest enemy
Aug 10, 2005: One of the biggest barriers to the adoption of open source software is the lack of skills or familiarity, according to Forrester Research, which has highlighted education as the first step for preparing developers and managers for using open source.
Forrester Research's report on open source praises the Australian Government's document: "A Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies", but it criticises some opens source leaders for lacking objectivity and having the unintended effect of reinforcing scepticism about open source among other employees, rather than facilitating adoption.
Michael Goulde, an analyst for Forrester Research, said that the Australian Government Information Management Office has taken a refreshing approach by releasing a guide to open source software.
"It is factual, balanced, educational, and that, as a result, will be extremely useful for its intended audience and to other Governments or companies developing open source strategies and policies.
"It will also be useful to other readers as a model for how to deliver a balanced message about open source's risks and benefits to an internal audience."
Goulde added that AGIMO's guide succeeds in coming across with "informed neutrality".
He identified some of the key insights in the document that he believes have been lost on many companies who are considering using open source software:
"Understanding cost of ownership issues for open source software is important because, under an open source model, costs are incurred at different phases of the implementation and operation of an information technology system."
"The process of deploying solutions based on open source software does not necessarily involve a higher or lower level of risk compared with projects based on proprietary software. There is, however, a change in risk profile. This change needs to be well understood and managed by the agency before understanding any OSS department."
Goulde outlined the main lessons learnt from the guide, which includes education being a very important policy; neutrality lends credibility - finding common ground is the ultimate way to gain acceptance for open source software and open source development models; and making sure that open source fits into the existing IT strategy and policy.
Overall, he believes that the Government is leading the way in setting the direction for open source adoptions because of the pressure its under to get most value from tax dollars, and he thinks that other governments and private companies should follow.
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