The Role of Open Source

Government organizations are increasingly interested in open source computing solutions. Proprietary vendors are exerting considerable pressure, through new and more onerous licensing policies, to lock into their systems and foot the bill for frequent upgrades. Moreover, today's popular proprietary computing platforms raise concerns about security, reliability and performance.

Open source solutions effectively address the major budgetary and infrastructure considerations driving government IT strategies. Open source cuts costs by lowering licensing and maintenance fees and by enabling deployment on less expensive hardware platforms. As a result, open source alternatives—and Linux in particular—are becoming more attractive to IT professionals. A recent survey by Forrester Research indicates that 60 percent of large companies surveyed have already adopted or plan to adopt open source technology, and half of them use it for mission-critical applications. Among the primary reasons cited for open source adoption are lower acquisition costs, lower total cost of ownership and expanded hardware and software choice. 1

Open source permits and encourages collaborative development by tens of thousands of developers around the world, resulting in fast resolution of problems. For example, open source solutions are usually more secure than their proprietary counterparts because the large community of open source developers finds and eliminates system vulnerabilities quickly. In addition, because the source code of all security modules in an open source solution is available to developers, organizations can customize security policies and implementations to meet their specific needs.

Open source ensures flexibility because it is supported by multiple hardware platforms, easily modified to meet specific requirements and supported by a dynamic community of developers. In addition, open source offers political appeal by reducing dependence on a single proprietary vendor to conduct the public's business. Most importantly, open source can increase governments' agility and flexibility over the long run, allowing them to respond to change and deploy new functionality at a faster pace. Because of their appeal across many areas, open source technologies should be fully supported in any government solution, and migration services should be offered to organizations committed to open source adoption.

With Novell, governments have the opportunity to leverage open source technologies within the core foundation. Novell offers a full range of open source options including the Linux operating system, value-added Linux services such as file and print, a comprehensive desktop with an office productivity suite, and worldwide Linux business and technical support. Novell also offers Linux migration expertise and worldwide consulting and training to help governments migrate appropriate core foundational technologies to open source alternatives.

1 "Open Source Moves Into The Mainstream," Ted Schadler, Forrester Research, Inc., March 16, 2004