Professor Brian Fitzgerald la_oss_forum

Lero © 2011. Slide 1 Lero–the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre

Adopting Open Source Software:

Lessons Learned

Prof Brian Fitzgerald

University of Limerick

LA Open Source Forum

Cork

12 April 2011


Background

• Early OSS implementations in back-office ‘invisible’ infrastructure

Deployed by ‘tech savvy’ under the radar


Background

• Early OSS implementations in back-office ‘invisible’ infrastructure

Deployed by ‘tech savvy’ under the radar

• Now ubiquitous

Visible front-office applications

To military and beyond! (mil-oss.org to crowd-sourcing)


Background

• Primary v. secondary adoption of OSS

• Lessons based on five cases of (secondary)

OSS Adoption

Ireland, Italy, Spain, US

Local government/public sector


Shameless Plug Time!


Reasons to Adopt OSS

• Reduce costs (but TCO estimates vary greatly)

• Reduce vendor lock-in

• More control/ability to adapt to local needs

• More transparency/security through openness

• Future proofing backward compatibility

• Stimulate small/local software industry

• Be seen as pioneering/innovative


A Framework to Investigate OSS Adoption

• Adapted from Rogers (1962,2003); Gallivan 2001




Managerial Intervention

• Mandatory v. voluntary

• Training & support • Championing OSS







Subjective Norms

• Expectations of peers, managers, subordinates (Ideology)







Subjective Norms


Facilitating Conditions

•Attributes of Innovation •Relative advantage •Compatibility •Complexity •Trialability •Observability/Image

•Attributes of Organization •Absorptive capacity •Attitude to Risk







Subjective Norms


Secondary Adoption of OSS










Subjective Norms






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Subjective Norms





•Attributes of Organization •Absorptive capacity •Attitude to Risk Gallivan



• Mandatory usage

Natural resistance

Beware of exceptions being perceived as elite

“We didn’t think OpenOffice was given to us as a bonus. We thought MS Office had been taken away”



• Training & Support

Tend to underestimate as OSS products similar to proprietary ones being replaced

Free software = => free training

Important to communicate advantages of OSS – chance to up-skill users



• Training & Support

Tend to underestimate as OSS products similar to proprietary ones being replaced

Free software = => free training

Important to communicate advantages of OSS – chance to up-skill users

• Championing OSS

No vendor to play this role

Evident in all successful cases


Subjective Norms

• Sense of work being under-valued if asked to use free software

• “You meet people and hear they are using MS Office and immediately you ask how did they manage that”

• Feeling of being de-skilled

• Problem if no other exemplars in same industry/sector

• Older employees less likely to embrace


Relative Advantage

• Important to illustrate this in training

• OpenOffice teething problems - especially with Impress

• LinEx, Guadalinex in Spanish

Espronceda for word processing

• Less problematic when not replacing a previous system

• Also good if able to use at home also


Observability/Image

• Many OSS products designed to be as similar as possible to proprietary counterparts

• Differences downplayed to make it easier for users

• Image can be negative

• “Poor man’s Microsoft…from Jurassic Park”


Trialability

• Key property of OSS

• Good if able to use same products at home also

• Bur do not underestimate training needs


Compatibility

• Disabled users not catered for in Massachusetts


Absorptive Capacity

• Students now have OSS experience

• Need technical competence to solve problems


Absorptive Capacity


• Need technical competence to solve problems • “…the exhilarating succession of problem-solving challenges

when installing open source”


Absorptive Capacity


• Need technical competence to solve problems • “…the exhilarating succession of problem-solving challenges

when installing open source”

• Local small software companies key partners often


Attitude to Risk

• Massachusetts first government in world to mandate open standards

First to create public library, public school, public subway


Summary of Key Lessons

• Identify management champion

• Use local software company

• Avoid opt-out groups forming

• Provide good training

Upskill users

Illustrate advantages

• Create positive image of OSS


This work was supported, in part, by Science Foundation Ireland grant 03/CE2/I303_1 to Lero–the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (www.lero.ie)

Thank you

Professor Brian Fitzgerald la_oss_forum

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