By 
By Folashade Wisdom 
Religion and Politics are two topics you wouldn’t like to discuss at a dinner party. So, I was advised. Religion, because you never know how deep or shallow the guy next to you is into it. Politics, because you never can tell who is on your side. Recently, I discovered there is one other topic my adviser forgot to warn me of, Open Source or Open Standard, Linux or….?
You are welcome to this month edition of Linus Chatroom. I am glad because I can speak. You know why? I am not at your dinner table. I am not at a talk show. I am not in your domain so I cannot be thrown out. I am already out. Out in the public domain. As I was saying, for those who have dared to speak in the open about whichever of the ‘Open’, you will agree with me that a lot of the arguments are very wide off the mark. They do not do any justice to the real issues. In this edition, we will discuss ‘Open’ and its relativity to the IT industry. Enjoy!
‘Open’ has become associated with industry standards
Today, the term ‘Open’ has become associated with software source code, industry standards, developer communities and a variety of licensing models-four distinct phenomena that are often intermingled in indistinct ways. Most times misused, each of these phenomena has a role to play, but it is important to understand what each one-is and is not.
Open source simply means the underlining software code is available for inspection and modification besides the fact that you can have it for free or almost free. Perhaps the most famous example is the Linux Kernel, but there are many others: The Apache web server, Gnome, windowing environment, Mozilla browser, Grid Engine, resource management, and openoffice.org, to name just a few.
The licence must not discriminate against any person or group of persons, nor restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research. It must also be technology-neutral. No provision for the license may be predicted on any individual technology or style of interface.
Open standard is the most critical of all because making a choice today should not preclude you from making a choice tomorrow. There are documents that outline agreed-upon conventions to enable different programs to work together, along with some means to ensure that they actually do. With open standards, your company can pick and choose among competing vendors and not be locked in to any one of them. It is therefore very vital.
Licensing: The thing to remember is that licensing terms for software vary. You should want to understand how each kind of open source licence works- GPL, Lesser GPL, Apache, Mozilla, BSD, most modified BSD. So you can determine whether it is right for the job at hand.
Communities: The most important thing about both open standards and open source is whether or not there is an open community behind it. What is the process? Can anyone join- competitors, customers, students? After all Innovations can and frequently do, come from anywhere.
In recent articles I read on open standards versus open-source, various writers state that open standard (i.e. open protocols) are more important than open Source Code. While they set up an opposition between standard and source (with that little word ‘versus’ in their title). In reality, there is no such thing- the two are mostly orthogonal to each other and both are necessary.
The only question you need to ask is: How critical are open standards to the viability of the open source community? And which is a stronger guarantee of openness in the technology ecosystem: open standards or open code? The best open source projects are the ones that actually amplify a standard, increasing its acceptance in the marketplace and enhancing cross-platform compatibility. There are open source projects that depend on open standard. Apache and HTTP, Mozilla and HTML/ CSS/ JavaScript, Sendmail and SMTP to mention a few.
It’s a question of power
As with so much else in life, the issue comes down to a question of power. Big companies usually prefer to control formats and protocols (i.e. standard). That is why they often dominate official “standard” processes through their overwhelming involvement in ostensibly open organisations such as the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). An open protocol or format that is dominated by big companies is not a healthy ecosystem.
To really thrive, a protocol needs a wealth of implementations- some closed, some open, some from big companies, some from smaller development houses, some from Open Source Project. And those implementations must engender a true community in which the people who do the work and use the software can easily join together to share information and learn from each other.
Some people think that only when the IETF or W3C approves a protocol or format, it thereby becomes a standard. This is ignorance. Standardization is not a matter of approval rather; it is a matter of acceptance in the market. And what is the market? It’s a complex stew of projects and organisations that develop and use the emerging standard.
In fact it looks a lot like the ecosystem of developers and users, but written on a global scale. Not all standard are open (For example MS Word and PowerPoint). However, when format and protocols are open, then open implementations that are technically strong usually tend to be accepted by the marketplace as standards.
In the Linux world, various Communities pursue something of a hybrid approach. Ensuring to be strengthened in all three sources, standard and community. First, they simultaneously create the core protocol and open-source implementations, then they grow the developer community and user base (as well as the number and range of companies involved in development and deployment).
Once that Foundation is strong, they finally sought standardization of the core protocol through the relative IETF’s Working Group. What could be more desirable: open-source and standard combined!
With proprietary OS, growth will be difficult
Conclusively, I would like to advise that this discrimination is not healthy for our environment. This is not a tussle for power, fame or money this is about freedom. This is about our future. As long as we have our string tied to a proprietary OS, growth will be difficult.
The relationship is not symbiotic, it is obviously parasitic. The licensing weight thrown on the shoulders of our business organizations (small and large scales) is becoming over bearing. A lot of companies can testify to this (I will not mention names).
In the short run it affects production and profit-making capacity. It affects wages and salaries. It affects voluntary input of the organization into the society. In the long run it affects the society at large. Think about it. It is a chain reaction. Some selected few are reaping the benefits of this proprietary licensing while the majority suffers.
There is a lot we can do for ourselves. Nigerians got the brain. Join the open source community and let us develop the nation. Our governments are able when they choose to. Don’t be afraid of making changes. Windows is widely accepted everywhere, boasts an enormous plethora of GUIs and has millions of software packages that run under it. But it is buggier, less secure, and sometimes feels cavernous. Linux is solid and smooth running and feels more streamlined to many.
This is not to say one is better than the other, this is about choice not enslavement! Let us start by integrating the two operating systems, windows and Linux. Harness the resources made available to us. Use the two, reap the benefits of the two, teach the two in our higher institution of learning. Use it in Banks, manufacturing company electrical or electronics companies, software development and others.
Governments must learn to maintain proprietary and open Source
In using open-source technology, government and companies will cut costs, gain flexibility and discover powerful new sources of business values. However, they must also learn how to maintain Solutions that include both proprietary and open Source software. Learn how to assess the benefits and costs.
Learn when to use Open Source software profitably in your business, how to pick a license, how to build relationship with the open source community and how to manage open source projects in your organization, along with your proprietary software. More than before in this country we have organisations that can train, instruct and give support on the issues mentioned above. (Mail me for details).
Aren’t you wary of paying “a disproportionate amount of money” to an OS supplier? Well, the Japanese are. Major Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers are backing away from efforts to push proprietary operating systems into wider use and are turning instead to open source OSes, specifically Linux. Sony’s and Matsushita’s Alliance to develop a consumer electronic version of Linux indicates their change stance, and other CE manufacturers are expected to join their effort.
A number of major consumer electronics manufacturers such as Samsung, Philips and LG Electronics, are joining this open platform initiative. What you want out of Linux is what to get not what anybody forces you to have. The number of software packages available for it is growing by the day and many of those that are available are free.
As time goes by and the open software community develops more for Linux, these differences will shrink. Financially powerful, unifying forces (companies) are coming behind Linux. Criticism has made Linux stronger. The Stones you throw at it become the very ingredients of construction. So please go ahead! However, give yourself a chance, use Linux it’s empowering! bye for now, see you next in edition.
