An investigation into the use of Open Source Software in the not-for-profit sector in Ireland.

Transcription

1 An investigation into the use of Open Source Software in the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. Eoin O Hehir BSc A summary of a dissertation submitted to Dublin City University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Information Systems Strategy Supervisor: Dr. Bridget Kane PhD FIBMS School: OSCAIL Submitted: April

2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS...2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...3 INTRODUCTION...4 STUDY FINDINGS...5 CONCLUSIONS...7 RECOMMENDATIONS...9 APPENDIX A - OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN USE...10 APPENDIX B - OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE INTERNET RESOURCES

3 Executive Summary This document presents a summary of finding for a study into the use of Open Source Software within the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. An on-line self-administered questionnaire was used to determine the organisational characteristics of not-for-profit organisations in Ireland, their use of, and opinion on Open Source Software. The study found that Open Source Software is in use in a limited manner within the sector, with 27.6% of respondents reporting use of at least one Open Source Software product. It did not however find any relationship between organisational characteristics and the use of Open Source Software. It is believed that the insufficient marketing of Open Source Software products may contribute to the limited dissemination the products within the sector. The study also found that opinions vary on the value proposition offered by Open Source Software. Some believe the Open Source model results in a superior quality whole product offering at lower cost; while others perceive the whole product quality as lacking and the hidden costs prohibitive. It is conjectured this has difference in opinion can be attributed to (1) insufficient marketing of the products and (2) inadequate software evaluation methods in use. This study recommends that Open Source Software be more effectively promoted within the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. At present the lack of awareness of Open Source Software is limiting software choice to that offered by proprietary software vendors for the majority of not-for-profit organisations. Such promotion could include: 1) Programs to increase awareness of Open Source Software within the sector through workshops, seminars, and articles in sector publications. Such programs could be driven by Open Source Software organisations, ICT consultants, government bodies, and not-for-profit organisation umbrella groups. 2) The creation of an on-line open source support community within the not-forprofit sector in Ireland, to support and promote the dissemination of Open Source Software within the sector. 3

4 Introduction Not-for-profit organisations are under constant pressure to operate efficiently and effectively in an increasingly challenging operating environment typified by increased competition and reduced funding. To compete in such an environment the not-for-profit organisation (NPO) must be perceived to be accomplishing its mission through the effectual deployment of donor funds. An effective core infrastructure is necessary to enable the NPO to operate in a sustainable manner. Such an infrastructure consumes resources in implementation and maintenance. A balance must therefore be struck between operational and program expenditure. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one component of an organisations core infrastructure. The effective deployment of ICT may help redress this balance in favour of program expenditure. Open Source Software (OSS) is software which carries the potential of being a higher quality product with a lower total cost of ownership than proprietary software through (1) lower cost licensing fees, (2) access to an extended talent pool and (3) access to an open innovation production model. Such a value proposition could aid NPOs quest to reduce operational in favour of program spend. The apparent harmony between the needs of NPOs and the benefits offered by OSS suggest a high level of OSS adoption within the not-for-profit sector. This study seeks to determine the level of OSS adoption within the sector in Ireland. It also attempts to (1) ascertain if organisational characteristics have an effect on the adoption of OSS and (2) identify the facilitators for and inhibitors to OSS adoption within the sector. 4

5 Study Findings This study has found that Open Source Software (OSS) is in use within just over a quarter of not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) in Ireland with 27.6% of NPOs reporting that they use at least one OSS product. This however leaves the majority (72.4%) of NPOs not using any OSS products at all. Of the NPOs using OSS products, the majority (57.2%), use only one OSS product. The OSS products used by respondents to this study are detailed in Appendix A. OSS adoption, where it does exist, is therefore in a limited form. The uptake of OSS within not-for-profit organisations in Ireland is also below the average for European firms, with a reported use of OSS in 40% of such firms. This study did not find any relationship between the use of OSS by a not-for-profit organisation and the organisations characteristics (organisation size/age/focus, availability of ICT expertise, level of ICT budgeting, use of long term ICT planning, or level senior management/board support for ICT). The facilitators for OSS use are outlined in Table 1. Facilitator Number of organisations Cost 34 Quality 21 Flexibility 6 Ideological Reasons 6 Familiarity 5 Interoperability 4 Support 4 Security 2 Licensing 2 ICT vendor preference 1 Table 1 - Facilitators for OSS use 5

6 By far the most common facilitators identified are the cost savings and quality inherent in the OSS model. Apart from generic cost comments, licensing fee was the only specific cost mentioned. The quality of the OSS products was assessed through features offered, availability, dependability, performance and usability. Some respondents reported Interoperability and Support as reasons for using OSS. Both of these could be seen as an extension of the quality of the whole product offering. Despite the fact that the majority of respondent organisations (70.9%) have dedicated ICT expertise available to them, the flexibility offered by the OSS model has a poor showing. This indicates that the availability of source code, facilitating change, customisation, experimentation and freedom of choice, provides limited appeal to potential users. The inhibitors for OSS use are outlined in Table 2. Inhibitor Number of organisations Insufficient marketing 37 Vendor lock-in 28 Compatibility issues 23 Lack of resources 12 Availability of low-cost proprietary software 10 Cost 9 Lack of relevance 8 Quality 7 Usability 7 Security 7 ICT vendor preference 4 Poor support model 4 Lack of Management Support 2 Licensing issues 1 Table 2- Inhibitors to OSS use 6

7 The most noteworthy inhibitor to OSS use is embodied by the phrase insufficient marketing, with a large representation reporting little or no knowledge of OSS. Lack of relevance could be viewed as similar to a lack of knowledge, as OSS is simply software which provides functionality. Given the number and variety of OSS products available it is hard to imagine an organisation not finding one OSS product providing functionality that it could use. Vendor lock-in reported well particularly as users are familiar with certain vendors products, to such an extent that the proprietary software is seen as a de-facto standard. Compatibility issues also reported well with a view that OSS does not offer the level of compatibility offered by proprietary software. The negative quality, usability, security and poor support responses could be viewed in conjunction with compatibility issues in a rejection of the quality of the whole product offering. Some organisations viewed the costs (particularly related to training and support) in a negative light. Lack of resources is seen as an inhibitor particularly with the perceived extra strain on ICT resources and time related to learning new technologies. Combined the negative cost perception and lack of resources indicate the perception of a prohibitive total cost of ownership for OSS. Related to all of these inhibitors, is the availability of low-cost proprietary software to NPOs, with the organisation Enclude 1 getting specific mention from several respondents. By removing the cost advantage offered by the OSS production model, proprietary software appears to be the more attractive proposition especially in light of its familiarity with users and perceived superior quality. Conclusions This study set out to determine (1) the level of Open Source Software (OSS) adoption within the not-for-profit sector in Ireland, (2) if organisational characteristics have an effect on the adoption of OSS and (3) the facilitators for and inhibitors to OSS adoption within the sector. This study found that (1) OSS products are in limited use within the not-for-profit sector in Ireland, with only 27.6% of reported use, (2) no relationship exists between the organisation characteristics surveyed and OSS adoption and, (3) the primary facilitators for OSS adoption 1 An Irish not-for-profit organisation distributing donated technology products, from various proprietary software vendors, to other notfor-profit organisations ( 7

8 are cost and quality and the primary inhibitors are insufficient marketing, vendor lock-in, cost and quality. This limited dissemination can be attributed to lack of awareness of OSS and vendor lock-in. Not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) are simply not aware of OSS, or if they are aware vendor lock-in dissuades them from adopting OSS. The superior marketing of proprietary software over that of OSS is one possible reason for this phenomenon. Users are more familiar with and therefore more proficient in using proprietary software products; software procurement personnel are more aware of the products; and ICT personnel are more confident supporting them. This leads to the perception that proprietary software products have a lower total cost of ownership than OSS products, especially in light of additional resources required to implement OSS. The availability of low cost proprietary software to NPOs (a proponent of proprietary software marketing strategy), reinforces this perception by removing the cost component from the OSS value proposition. Where NPOs are aware of OSS products, the value proposition offered by the software needs to be appealing, as they attempt to fulfil their mission in a fiscally responsible way. With 63.8% of respondents reporting little or no ICT budget, value for money must be of some concern when choosing software. Cost and quality have been reported as both facilitators and inhibitors to OSS adoption. For some OSS is perceived as offering a better value proposition than proprietary software; with a superior quality whole product offering at lower cost. Others perceive the whole product quality as lacking and the hidden costs prohibitive. This divergence in perception of the attractiveness of the whole product offering of OSS, is reflected in the reported level of satisfaction experienced from OSS. The responses, other than N/A, are pretty evenly matched between satisfied (15%), neutral (15%) and unsatisfied (11.8%). This could be explained by the software evaluation methods employed by NPOs. Poor software evaluation leads to a product choice ill-fitting to requirements. A software product that does not perform the task it is chosen for is perceived to be of poor quality, though it could simply be the software evaluation method is of poor quality. 8

9 Recommendations The most compelling recommendation to stem from this research is that OSS should be more effectively promoted within the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. At present the lack of awareness of OSS is limiting software choice to that offered by proprietary software vendors for the majority of NPOs. Such promotion could originate from OSS organisations, ICT consultants, government bodies, and NPO umbrella groups. Third level education institutions could also play their part by including OSS components in education programs to introduce and promote the concepts to students. Promotion could take the form of workshops, seminars, or articles in sector publications. Areas of interest could include an understanding of the OSS provision model, the internet resources available (see Appendix B for a brief list of such resources), case studies of successful and unsuccessful implementations and understanding of OSS evaluation methods. Once awareness of OSS has increased, NPOs could drive dissemination through the provision of an OSS support community. Such a community could be hosted on the Internet and encompass such things as case studies of OSS implementations (both successful and unsuccessful), training materials, listing of relevant internet resources, the provision of software evaluations/reviews and a directory of ICT consultants specialising in OSS. Through education the NPO can gain a deeper understanding of the OSS phenomenon, thus increasing awareness of the software options available to it. Such awareness enhances the NPO s ability to determine the software product most appropriate to its needs - open source or proprietary as it builds a supportive core infrastructure in pursuit of its mission. 9

10 Appendix A - Open Source Software in Use Product # of Organisations Website Type of Software 7-zip 1 File compression and archiving Apache HTTP Server 4 HTTP Server Asterisk Trixbox VOIP 1 Communication server software (VOIP, PBX, Conferencing) Audacity 1 Audio editing software celtx 1 Media pre-production software chrome 1 Internet browser CIVICRM 2 CRM Dada Mail 1 Mailing list manager Drupal 1 Content management software Eclipse 1 Software Integrated Development Environment EGroupware 1 Collaboration software freebsd 1 Operating system gimp 2 Image manipulation software horde 2 Collaboration software Java 6 Programming language Joomla! 2 Content management software LAMP Development software comprising of: i. Linux ii. Apache iii. MySQL iv. PHP LibreOffice 1 Office software suite (Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations etc.) Linux 5 Operating system MediaWiki 1 WIKI Package moodle 1 Course management system Mozila Firefox 3 Internet browser Mozilla Thunderbird 4 client 10

11 Product # of Organisations Website Type of Software Nagios 1 IT infrastructure monitoring OpenMeetings 1 Conferencing software OpenOffice 9 Office software suite (Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations etc.) OSSEC 1 Network security software Perl 2 Programming Language php 3 General purpose scripting language PostgreSQL 1 Database python 1 Programming Language Scribus 2 Desktop publishing SNORT 1 Network security software SQL-Ledger 1 ERP system WordPress 5 Website and Blogging software XAMPP Development software comprising of: i. Apache ii. MySQL iii. PHP iv. Perl Zarafa 1 & collaboration software 11

12 Appendix B - Open Source Software Internet Resources Name Website Description Apache Foundation Open Source software development tool repository Eclipse Open Source software development tool repository FLOSS Manuals Community creating manuals for OSS products FOSS Directory of OSS related information free(code) General OSS repository Free Software Foundation Foundation promoting free software Ice Walkers Collection of OSS for Linux Medical Free-Libre and Open Source Software Collection of OSS aimed at the healthcare sector NGO-in-a-Box Collection OSS aimed at not-for-profit sector O Reilly Open Books Collection of free Open Source related books ohloh OSS repository with value added content OpenDisc Collection of OSS for Microsoft Windows Open Source Mac Collection of OSS for Mac OS X Osdir Directory of OSS related information OSS Watch Advice and guidance on OSS QSOS OSS evaluation model Qualipso OSS Quality, including the Open Maturity Model evaluation model Savannah General OSS repository SchoolForge.net Collection of OSS aimed at education institutions Sourceforge General OSS repository Spago4Q Tool aiding the evaluation of OSS Tigris.org Open Source software development tool repository 12