This
paper tackles the different issues that are related with the application of OSS
in the government setting. It uses data gathered from different government
agencies in UAE. Interviews were implemented to the chosen IT professionals or
managers of these government agencies to gather data, and then use the grounded
theory method to analyze the gathered data.
The result of the study showed
that OSS is being used extensively in UAE nowadays, about 25% to 55% of the
entire datacenter system of the agencies involved in the study were already
developed and being run with the use of OSS.
In addition, the study also
tackled the different advantages or benefits offered by OSS, which include
customization or personalization because source code can be easily viewed,
changed, managed and altered. With this, it can help in order to improve the
skills and knowledge of the employees or those teams in the IT departments of
the government agencies. In addition, it can also help in order to maintain
transparency in different government agencies. Furthermore, OSS can also help
in order to improve performance of the government agencies, because of the
support offered by the OSS communities, therefore updates and development will
be available and can be used in order to ensure the performance of the
software.
However, OSS can also offer wide
variety of disadvantages. First is the lack of direct support, which leads to
difficulty in implementation and maintenance. Then the hidden costs related to
the training and learning of the employees or developers to be involved in OSS
implementation and maintenance.
The
open source software (OSS) development model was first established in the
1970s, partly as a cynical reaction to the move by some private software
companies towards the appropriate public available software into their
proprietary applications (Stallman & Lessig, 2002). For the last decades,
the said software development model has materialized as a feasible and practical
option to commercial software projects (Fitzgerald, 2006) and has attracted and
motivated increasing attention from academic and corporate world (Stewart,
Ammeter and Maruping, 2006).
Open
source (OS) model of software developed has gained attention and become very
popular in the research community because of different factors, which include:
success of different OS products; agitation about monopoly in the software
industry; continuous increase of demands for secured, efficient and dependable
software applications; increasing market competition and presence of demands
for low cost applications; and access to and availability of the Internet in
aspect of an unexpected cooperation mean (Polančič, Horvat and Rozman, 2004). Richard Stallman opened
the door for OSS. The GNU project was started in 1985 and establishes the Free
Software Foundation to support his projects. Then in 1991 Linus Torvalds wrote
the Unix-like kernel based on Minix. Thousands of hackers got involved in the
Linux community, because Torvalds was willing to accept fixes and
recommendations from users and co-developers, thus Linux become one of the most
vital projects in open source movement (Yang and Wang, 2008).
Currently,
different organizations are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of
OSS. It is being used in order to support internal software development efforts
or even to shift and move proprietary software offerings (Bahn and Dressel
2006). Currently, OSS is considered as one of the most popular trends in the
informatic industry. It has become the most vital option or substitute to
proprietary software in different fields. Apache has the overall share 53.84%
of the entire web server market; Sendmail, Exim, Postix has 64.42% share in
mail server market and Firefox has 24.41% share of the entire browser market.
The most popular symbol of OSS is the Linux operating system. As a result, many
companies, including IBM, Oracle as well as Novell had been able to take advantage
of OSS on their business model (Pranić and Požgaj 2010).
Just like the private sector,
government agencies and departments are also taking advantage of many benefits
and advantages of technologies, this particularly includes the use of OSS. Open
source software is increasingly considered as a tool which can help governments
to obtain efficient service delivery due to its low cost compared with the
commercial or liscensed software (Mutula and Kalaote 2010). The Open Software
Working Group (2002) defined OSS as software that is free of proprietary restrictions
and is developed, released to, and can be modified and changed by the public,
free of charge. Its users can view the source code, alter and re-distribute it.
The process of software
maintenance in OSS is different from that of the traditional method used in
software development. In traditional setting, it is commonly needed to have a
software maintenance team presented in an organization in order to offer post
operational support. The support carries from operational aspects to change
management. If the support requested is change management then the proposed
changes need to be either approved or rejected and are later assigned to a
defined set of individuals to put into practice and apply. The decision of
approval or rejection is greatly dependent on the influence of the changes on
the overall software application. This scenario is very different to most OSS
cases, where it is not compulsory to get the change request permitted from any
authority. Anyone can suggest and recommend a change and apply or execute the
change by themselves or a request can be drifted among participants in the
community. In some cases, there are moderators present in the OSS projects, and
which necessitate the change request to be assessed before approving for
implementation. The process of operational support is also alike, anyone can
offer operational support against a request and the online forums generally
become the point of contact for those seeking assistance or advice (Ahmed et
al., 2009). Even though current trends and changes for the companies that take
advantages of benefits of OSS to have some employees work on OSS, different
surveys showed that common of the participants in OSS projects are volunteers
(Lerner and Tirole, 2002).
There are number of communities
who focus on development of OSS. One of which is the Source Forge (www.sourceforge.net) a leading resource
for open source software development and distribution which is dedicated in
making open source projects in successful manner, and focus on collaboration of
the entire community. With the use of tools offered in the website, there are
2.7 million developers who develop power software in more than 260,000 projects,
and connects to more than 46 million consumers, serving more than 2 million
downloads per day (Source Forge, 2010).
Security is always a vital issue
in software industry. Security, in all its forms, is the topic where all
benefits of open-source paradigm become visible. Open-source security depends
on a simple theory that the system with its components and elements is
intrinsically more secure when its source code can be constantly checked,
assessed and discussed by those experts and professionals in the security
field. The rule of this viewpoint is clearly very simple and uncomplicated. All
who are capable, competent and qualified to use their expertise and knowledge
in security can examine and assess the source code for possible holes, bugs and
planted or undersigned backdoors. Thus, it shows its advantage over closed-
source systems, which is extreme. While close-source software can only be appropriately
scrutinized by few individuals who have source code access, open-source
programming code is subjected and reviewed by, possibly, millions of
programmers – a international developer community which is competent of working
out a patch in a matter of hours (Greiner, et al., 2003).
Currently
there is a lot of dependency on closed source software and there is a
neglecting the the fact that there are
alternatives to their current software implementation. Although there is some
kind of insinuative to implement OSS in some of the government entities but
they are not sufficient and not considerably mentioned.
Cost
is one of the main concerns nowadays because of the financial crises and cost
cuts may affect the service delivery in cost source software.
“Boost
the domestic software industry to realize the transition of China from IT
consumer to IT provider” by “playing a leading role in the Linux/Open Source
Software community” (Yeo 2006 cited from
Hedgebeth 2007). As China is considering the implementation of the OSS to its
internal entities so the UAE should take the same step towards the OSS
implementation.
This
study will be exploratory in nature. It is conducted because the problem has
not been clearly defined. The issue about OSS in the government environment in
UAE has not been studied before. With this, it is important to have an
extensive preliminary work in order to gain familiarity with the phenomenon.
The
main aim of the study is to explore the different advantages and benefits which
OSS can offer towards UAE government. In line with this, the following are the
specific objectives of the study:
- To evaluate the current application of OSS in
UAE government;
- To compare open-sourced with closed-sourced
software;
- To analyze the different advantages and
benefits that UAE government acquire from OSS; and
- To examine the possible risks and
disadvantages that UAE government can be experienced by using OSS.
In
general, this study will answer the question: What are the different advantages
and benefits that UAE government can acquire by using OSS compare with the
closed-source software?
From
the Problem statement our research will be based on answering the questions
below:
• What is the current state of OSS in
the UAE?
• What are the factors that would
convince the government to apply OSS in its IT infrastructure?
In
order to effectively manage an organization in the current global economy, it
is importan to identify the resources that are needed in order to improe the
performance of the company. One of which is resource that is offered by the
open source community. They are collective body of software programmers, users
and vendors who promote the application of open standards in order to develop
software and other technology solutions for the growing customer base in
international arena (Hedgebeth 2007).
It is a common notion that the
term “open” is the same as “free”. The key difference between the two terms is
the type of license that is used for the software. The Free Software
Foundation’s (FSF) advocacy of free software depends almost solely on the GNU
General Public Licensing (GPL) in order to impose that the: (a) software will
remain free of any royalty charges; and (b) the level of sharing the source
code in the distribution of the software. On the other hand, Open Source
Initiative’s advocacy of OSS not only approves GPL and GPL compatible licenses,
but also endorses other open source licenses that are not approved by the FSF,
which are more “friendly” towards the needs and demands of the commercial
business (Bahn and Dressel 2006).
With this, according to OSI, the
terms of distribution of OSS must comply with different criteria, which
include: free redistribution, source code, derived works, integrity of the
author of the source code; no discrimination against persons or groups; no
discrimination against fields of endeavor; distribution of license; license
must not be specific to a product; license must not be restrict other software;
and license must be technology-neutra. Overall, OSS can be freely: opened,
copied, changed and distributed by anyone (Ueda 2005).
According
to Kerr (2007), the main difference between closed-source and OSS is its
orientation. The closed-source orientation is to make a profit and maintain
full control of the product, in addition, the source of this kind is closed,
which make its creation and modification prohibited and restricted only to
those who are given the authority. On the other hand, as have mentioned, OSS is
open for free.
Weber (2002) stated that the
word “better” can be considered as unclear in describing software. This is
because, like other tools, software has different attributes pertaining on its
quality, which include: reliability, usability, flexibility and cost. In
addition, there is no sole most advantageous balance between these attributes,
because most of it depends on the separate and dissimilar needs and demands of
the users. Generally, cheaper software with less serious bugs is preferred, but
it is still hard to assess. Thus, according to Macnaghten (2005) it is already
found out that both models work and both advantageous for the users and the
vendors, in different manners (see Appendix A).
Due to the fact that commercial
software commonly wishes to trade the code that they develop, they stridently
limit and confine access to the source code of their software products to the
employees and contractors of the organization. The end result of this
limitation and confinement is that only those insiders have the information
that is needed in order to change and improve the code of the program or
software. In huge difference, all are offered free access to the source code of
open source software, meaning anyone with adequate programming skills and
capabilities and motivations can use and change any open source software that
are written and coded by anyone. During the early hacker days, this liberty and
autonomy to study, use and change software was applied and done via informal
sharing and code-velopment of code – commonly by physical sharing and swap of
computer tapes and disks upon which the code was recorded. In the present
Internet days, swift technological expansion in computer hardware and software
as well as networking technologies have made it much easier to institute and preserve
a communal development style at ever-larger degrees. In addition, executing new
project is becoming increasingly easier as successful project design becomes
better comprehended, and as prepackaged infrastructural support for such
projects becomes accessible on the Internet. At present, an open source
software development project is commonly started by an individual or small
group with an idea for something motivating and appealing that they themselves
want for an academic or private or business motive or cause (von Hippel and von
Krogh, 2003). According to Raymond (1999) “Every good work of software starts
by scratching a developers’ personal itch… too often software developers spend
their days grinding away for pay at programs they neither need for love. But
not in the (open source) world…”
Furthermore,
the project initiators also, in general become the owners and maintainers of
the project who take on liability and accountability for project management. Near
the beginning, this individual or group usually develops a first rough version
of the code for this primary version is then made generously accessible to all
via downloading from an Internet website launched by the project. The founders of
the project also set up mailing lists for the project, which include those
individuals or groups that are interested in using or further developing the
code. They can use to seek help, offer information or supply new open source
code for others to talk about and check. In the case of the projects that are
successful in drawing interest, others do download and use and experiment with
the code – and some of these do go on to generate new and customized and
personalized code. Most then post what they have done on the project website
for application and evaluate by any who are interested. New and altered code
that is estimated to be of adequate and satisfactory quality and of broad
interest by the project maintainers is then included to the endorsed version of
the code. In many projects the opportunity and freedom of adding to the endorsed
code is limited and controlled to only few trusted developers (von Hippel and
von Krogh, 2003). These few then are considered as the gate keepers for code done
by contributors who are not granted with such access (Kogut and Metiu, 2001)
In general, different studies
showed that: open source development promotes faster growth of the system; open
source projects promotes more creativity from the users; open source projects
do well because of their simplicity; open source projects are, in general, have
fewer defects compare with the close source projects, bcause defects can be
found and fixed faster; and open source projects are more modular compare with
the closed source projects (Wheeler 2003; O’Reilly, 1999; Mockus, Fielding and
Herbsleb 2000; Dalle and Jullien 2000).
High level of security in
open-source developmental approach is connected to the likelihood of global examination
or check. If a security leak is still unnoticed, after accurately thousands of
assessments, it does not stay undetected for a wide period of time. As an
example, when the famous Ping of Death bug was found in the Linux system, the
patch was extensively accessible in one hour. The knowledge of a talented and passionate
programmer in comprehending and setting up a possible dilemma must not be undervalued.
For the past few years, open-source community has developed into a vibrant
global team competent of wide-ranging security testing, code inspection and counseling
(Greiner, et al., 2003).
However, the universal examination
is that closed-source has not confirmed more secured than open source. The
problem in investigating operating system and software security tools is that
the transpired attacks barely even arrive at the general public. The precise
number of intrusions is therefore unfeasible to access correctly. According to
some of the survey which focuses on the software security, open-source software
products hold high degree because the security in closed-source software had
declined with the extensiveness of its size and distribution; the most
important example is the Microsoft Corporation (Greiner, et al., 2003).
Governments,
commercial organizations, military organizations as well as educational
institutions have used open source software into their operations and functions
to defy the problems related to tightened budgets and increasing operational
expenses, at the same time, enables them to edit and customize their software
and system (Hedgebeth 2007).
Currently,
governments of different countries are using and implementing OSS, in order to
improve the quality of their services. Europe has been very active player in
the movement towards OSS. The Libre Software community has contributed to the
global open source movement today. This includes Linus Torvalds of Finland
(Linux kernel), MySQL of Michael Widenius in Sweden, Python of Guido van Rossum
in the Netherlands, KDE of Matthias Ettrich in German, Mandrakelinux of
MandrakeSoft Company in France and Symbian OS in the UK (Hedgebeth 2007).
China
is also taking advantage of OSS, by the strong support of its government for
OSS. The national goal of the country is to “boost the domestic software
industry to realize the transition of China from IT consumer to IT provider” by
“playing a leading role in the Linux/Open Source Software community” (Yeo 2006 cited from Hedgebeth 2007).
India
also introduced its Open Source Simputer project, e-governance and CoIL-NET and
TDIL localization projects in order to adopt different open source
methodologies (Sharma and Adkins, 2006). South American countries also focus on
adoption of OSS, Chile implemented its Edulinux system which use Linux, Firefox
and Open Office in order to control its national high-school network (Hedgebeth
2007).
UAE is also updated in
application of IT. According to Business Monitor Internationa, UAE is expected
to spend more on its IT, from US$3.1 billion in 2008 to more or less US$4.7
billion by 2013. In addition, according to the report of Linux Professional
Institution, UAE is among the first adopters in the Middle East, which include
the Emirates Airlines, Federal E-Government and Sharja-Al Ain University.
The study of Pranič and Požgaj (2010)
about the usage of open source software
in public administration of Republic of Croatia showed that the main
reasons of applying OSS in the public sector are: interoperability, respect of
standards and information security. Interoperability is defined as the ability
of information and communication technology (ICT) systems and the entire
business processes that it supports to exchange data and allow sharing of
information and knowledge (IADBC, n.d.). Interoperability has a vital role in reducing
costs of IS integration and considered as a key barrier in public sector
informatization, mainly in exchange of information via documents which are
considered as center of any public sector activity. Furthermore, public sector
has a responsibility to preserve documents for future use, so contact to the
information restricted in documents must be guaranteed over long periods and
duration of time. Thus, document interoperability becomes a vital issue in any
e-government strategy. On the other hand interoperability is connected on open
standards usage. In the world of IT, huge efforts and financial investments are
implemented in order to encourage open standards, which help to carry those
companies that are considered as rivals in the IT market. OSS is almost always
better accustomed to open standards than the closed-source software. Open
source software is frequently considered as free of charge software and not as
“free as a bird” software because of free distribution. But the cost to be
spent in the implementation of the software can be even bigger compare to
close-source software. Thus the best way is to presume that total cost of
ownership is the same for open source and closed-source software. The main
difference is that the costs are distributed in a different way. In open source
software, implementation money is spent more on services, migration and
education of users, while in closed-source software, the cost primarily focus
on the licenses. Lastly, information security is really complicated aspect. It
can be said that freely that completely secure software is impossible to
acquire, and it is hard to say which software is more safe and protected – open
or closed-source. However, because source code is available, OSS offers more
transparency, which is considered as vital quality for the public sector (IDA,
2001).
The study is exploratory in
nature. This study will be exploratory in nature. It was conducted because the
problem has not been clearly defined. The issue about OSS in the government
environment in UAE has not been studied before. With this, it is important to
have an extensive preliminary work in order to gain familiarity with the
phenomenon. With this, the study is qualitative. According to Fryer (1991)
qualitative research help to focus on the process of describing, decoding and
interpreting the different meanings of the different situations, conditions and
case in the normal social context happen.
Six
entities were analyzed for this study: Dubai Police, Dubai Public Prosecution,
Professional Communication Corporation (Nedaa), Dubai Electricity and Water
Authority (DEWA), Dubai municipality and Road and Transport Authorty(RTA). They
were chosen because they were the six among the first government institutions
who implemented OSS in their overall system. Therefore, they will be
well-informed and experienced about the different aspects related to OSS.
For each entity, one IT
department employee was interviewed. They were chosen because they have direct
experience and knowledge about the application of open-source software in the
organization.
Survey
was used in this research. Survey research is considered as popular social
research methods which gather vast information from the population. Thus, in
order to gather data, interview surveys were implemented. This can offer
advantages in economy, because data can be gathered directly from the
population (Babbie 2009).
Regarding this, interview was
conducted. Interview helped the researcher to have the ability to probe in
depth a single topic without distraction by the comments of other participants.
At the same time, it also enables the participants to express their idea in
full and complete manner. Above all, it can also be held in different
locations, which are preferable and comfortable for the respondents (Kolb
2008).
Open-ended questions were used
in the interview. It enabled the researcher to enable a free response rather
than restricting the respondent to choice from among stated alternatives (Ary
et al. 2009). In addition, this type of question is suitable with method of the
research because it is advantageous if the researcher has limited knowledge of
the topic being research or if he or she is unsure regarding the type of
answers that a given question may suggest. In addition, because different IT
personnel from different public or government organizations was interviewed and
it was expected and anticipated to acquire large variety of answers (Wiid and
Diggines 2010).
Using
the grounded theory method, an inductive process was used in order to code the
responses, and then the responses were grouped into meaningful categories. The
derived categories were used in order to summarize the qualitative data (Martin
and Turner, 1986). The data will be analyzed with the use of statistical
formula in order to show and present the result of the study in easier manner.
The
main limitations that the research is facing are labeled as below:
1. This research is considered as a
preliminary research, thus, it has variety of limitations. First, the
questionnaire and interviews are only conduct on a limited number of
population.
2. The results may be bias towards
either to open source or closed source which may affect the final results.
This
research is a kind of “inducted
perspective” studies, it can move from the particular to the general, and
presents the importance of implementing OSS in UAE’s governments entities from
the targeted samples (like Dubai Police) to the all of the other entities in
the Government. Moreover:
1. It can help offering a background
information or preliminary research which will be helpful for more in-depth and
specific research about application of OSS in UAE.
2. The results will be helpful in order
to provide UAE’s government entities the different advantages and benefits of
applying OSS in their IT environment.
3. It can help UAE’s government
entities to focus on planning and implementing strategies in order to improve
the quality of their services by using OSS.
The result of the interview
showed that the major OSS used by the government agencies are MySQL, Apache,
Debian, PHP, Ubuntu, DotProject and Nagios. MySQL “is a high-performance,
multi-threaded, multi-user relational database management system (RDBMS) built
around client-server architecture” (Vaswani, 2004, 5). On the other hand,
Apache is a web server; Debian is operating system; PHP is a scripting language
use for web development; Ubuntu is another operating system based on Debian;
dotProject is a Project Management application; and Nagios is a computer system
and network monitoring software application. These are the most common Oss that
are applied and used by government agencies based on the IT professionals
interviewed. Other names and software mentioned are: Redhat, JBoss, Blind9,
Postfix, Dovecot, Clamav, SpamAssin, Openldap, Perl, Gentoo, FreeBSD, HTTPD,
Squid-Cache, OpenVPN, Snort, Firefox, OpenOffice, FileZilla, Pant.net, PHPBB,
Joomla, PHP osTicket, Virtual Box and Ntop.
On the other hand, aside from
OSS, there are different critical closed-source software that are being implemented
in the government agencies in UAE, which include those software that are used
with mail system or server, database and domain controller. Other software and
brands mentioned by the respondents are Oracle Database, Exchange 2007, Cisco
Application, CRM Microsoft, VmWare and Windows Active Directory LDAP.
Overall, the result of the interview showed
that OSS operations are 25% to 55% in the entire Datacenter system.
The
result of the interview showed that the main advantages of OSS are:
- Flexibility;
- Less software expense;
- Stability; and
- High Performance.
According
to the respondents, because OSS enables its users to view, access and modify
the code, it gives them much flexibility, because they can add, edit and delete
some of the important functionalities and elements of the software in order to
be customized and altered based on the demands and needs of the organization. In
addition, it can offer stability for the organization and the IT department of
government agencies because of the large technical community which can offer
support, advice and help regarding the different technical issues of the
software. With this, bugs and problems of the software can be easily fixed,
because there are great number of individuals and groups all over the world who
are interested and motivated in testing and analyzing the software, thus
versions of software are always updated, unlike those closed-source system
where in it will take months or more for another release of binary patches.
With this, it can offer high performance, because system will always be updated
and free of bugs and errors.
On
the other hand, the most basic and important advantage of OSS focus on the
absence of licensing requirements and the needs for software activation,
therefore, software can be installed in instant. This consequently results in
less money to be spent in buying licensing and activation, thus less expense
will be spent for software.
On
the other hand, respondents also showed several disadvantages of OSS. The
result showed that, OSS includes risks related to:
- No direct technical support;
- Difficultly in implementation and maintenance;
and
- Difficultly in integrating with the current
closed-source software being used in the organization.
According
to the respondents, the most challenging aspect of OSS is the fact that unlike
the closed-source software offered and sold by vendors, there is no direct
technical support. If a product or software is not that popular, then there is
a small chance that support will be unavailable. Thus, in case of errors or
bugs, they have to rely on their own technical capabilities or ask for advice
and help of those members of the community. As a result, the learning curve for
the developers or the staffs or employees of the IT department is high, because
they have to learn on their own. According to the respondents, in order to
manage and maintain OSS, it is important for the staffs to acquire different
skills, which include:
- Basic Linux Commands;
- Basic Shell Programming Editors;
- Basic System Administration;
- Fundamentals of Networking;
- Package Management; and
- Source Code Compilation.
Due to this, OSS are much more harder to
implement and maintain because there will be need for experts, knowledgeable
and skilled developers or staffs of the department in order to handle the
process of implementation and maintenance, therefore, the company will have to
focus on the different costs that are related on the process of hiring and
training highly capable staffs or employees.
Above all, according to the respondents,
it is also difficult and hard to integrate some OSS with their current
closed-source software. This is an important aspect to be considered, because
most of the government agencies have implemented closed-source software in the
past in order to meet the changes and demands of public services and the
technological development in speedy manner.
In
comparing OSS with closed-sourced software, the criteria considered by the
respondents were: security and efficiency.
In
terms of security, the reaction of the respondents about which is more secure
varies, but in general, all of the respondents believe that both OSS and
closed-source software are facing their own security threats and issues. Thus,
their security advantages are based on the situation, based on the software and
based on its application. It was also found out that most of the respondents
believe that closed-source software are high in security, in most time, because
those vendors who are selling or offering these products will reflect to their
image and market share in the market.
However,
according to the respondents, OSS offers high level of security because most
patches are almost immediately available when there are security risks involved
in the software, particularly if it is popular – this is because huge number of
people from different parts of the world are willing to release their own
version or to release help regarding security or technical aspect of the
software. One of the respondents stated that OSS is more secured if the package
is checked thoroughly before installation.
The
result is similar with the aspect of efficiency. The respondents all agreed
that both OSS and closed-source software offers efficiency. CSS offers
efficiency because little time is needed in order to implement the system, thus
it offers ease of use. In addition, it also offers value added options which
OSS does not offer.
On
the other hand, OSS offers more efficiency in terms of performance, security,
customization and integration. At the same time, it is much easier to update
because of the availability of supports from different online communities. But,
there is a great need for experts, knowledgeable and experienced manpower.
However,
the respondents believe that it is hard to compare the two because OSS can
offer some advantages which closed-source software cannot offer, and the other
way around. Thus, application of OSS and close-source software will be based and
dependent on the current needs and capabilities of the organization.
Majority
of the respondents believe that migration from closed-source software to OSS is
positive for the government agencies in the UAE. The results show that OSS can
help the government agencies of UAE to:
- Offer
advantage for the agencies and departments due to the existence of
standard protocols which is possible to integrate both closed and
open-source software during the transition phase;
- Offer
advantage because it will enable to make the UAE government to have a
system that will be more secured and efficient than now;
- Offer
productivity and outcomes; and
- Save
payments for some unnecessary costs.
However for some of the
respondents, they believe that it is not yet the right time to fully migrate
all closed-source software to OSS. This is because:
- It
is not yet possible and feasible in the current platform;
- It
will take a long time for OSS to directly compete with closed-source software,
this is due to the fact that because OSS is free, it will be hard for OSS
to acquire those functionalities or options by closed-source software.
Currently,
due to the different advantages and benefits offered by OSS, most individuals,
businesses, including the public or the government sectors are also using and
applying it in its IT infrastructure. Currently, number of countries is putting
up plans and implementation agendas which mainly focus on using and
implementing OSS in their IT operations in order to support their needs and
demands for technologies, particularly in the aspect of ICT.
The
results of the study that majority of the respondents, which represent their
respective government agencies are already applying OSS in their organization
or agency. From 25% to 55% of their overall IT infrastructure are consists of
OSS. These OSSs are vital in managing the different procedures and processes that
are involved in managing different transactions between the government agencies
and their relationship towards the citizens.
It was also showed that there are vast numbers of OSSs that are being
applied in their organization.
UAE
just like other countries are spending much in their technological and
innovation aspect. This is to enhance the government procedures and processes,
thus help in order to improve relationship with the citizens and the
relationship to foreign entities, to ensure economic progress. UAE is expected
to spend billions in its IT infrastructure. Thus, it is believe that OSS will
be very helpful in order to effectively cut cost and improve performance of
overall information system of the government agencies in the region.
The
results of the research regarding the different advantages which can be offered
by using OSS for the government agencies support the different studies which
show the different advantages which OSS can offer towards different companies
or organizations of any sector or industry.
First,
this study enables to show that OSS offers flexibility and stability. This is
because of the fact that OSS promotes creativity, personalization and
customization. The study of Dalle and Jullien (2000) discussed that creativity
is more predominant in open-source systems, which consequently lead to more
rapid development of user features. This pertains on the features that are
commonly added per versions released by a particularly OSS community,
particularly for those popular OSSs. According to Raymond (2003), the primary
reason why most people, with background and knowledge in programming can easily
manage, edit or altered the script or source of an OSS is because of its
simplicity. This is the reason why, there is much more versions released by OSS
than those closed-source software.
The
result of the study also supports the notion of many that OSS offers more
security features than closed-source software, because the source is available
for scrutiny and analysis. Thus, this feature is very important for government
agencies, because the government has a great responsibility towards its citizen
by maintaining transparency and governance. Thus, the use of an OSS can be
helpful in order to ensure that the code and script used are based on the
standards of the government and based on the local and international principles
given by the authorities. In addition, there is no doubt that OSS had become very
popular in the current days. As a result, great number of people from hackers
to programmers and even simple or ordinary people with interests in IT are
becoming aware and choose to share their knowledge by contributing to the
community, as a result, developers or IT personnel of a department can easily
seek help and advice about technical issues related to the software or system.
Thus, it adds up to the issue of security. According to Mockus , Fielding and
Herbsleb (2000) defects and errors are much easier and faster to be detected
and fixed in closed-source software. This is because; according to Wheeler (20033)
the entire community of a particular OSS is very responsive and motivated in
identifying and fixing defects. As a result, improved and more reliable
software will be released, and then used by its end-users or clients. With the
growing impact of the Internet, the improvement of technologies around the
globe, and the popularity of social networking sites, it is much easier for
people to gather, who are interested in a specific OSS, and then talk about
anything, share information or knowledge related to a given OSS, which will
eventually help everyone in the entire community to handle different errors and
problems that are related with the OSS. With the vast number of members or
volunteers, it will be easier to detect faults and risks in an OSS, because
there are huge numbers of population who will do the checking. In addition, in
the emergence of risk, error or problem, it will be easier to create counter-measure
because there are great numbers of brains who are working together. This is one
of the great advantages of OSS over closed-source software. Most of the vendors
of closed-source software, due to the difficulty of the codes used, or many due
to business reasons are taking time to release the next versions or editions in
order to cater to the different bugs or holes of the previous release.
In
addition, the study also enables to show that OSS can offer cost-effectiveness
for organizations. This is considered as the initial or primary advantage
considered by most individuals, particularly those who are not familiar,
because the name and its definition, signify that OSS are being offered for
free by its developer, and supports, further information will be offered by the
community for free, in addition, continuous updates can be accessed in easier
manner. This is true, because OSS can help its user to instantly install
software that are needed, without the need for activation of license, thus its user
will no longer have to worry about the needed costs to be spent in order to
acquire license and continue its usage. However, it is also important to
consider that even though the code itself are offered for free, and there are
some available help which can be found in the OSS community, there are some
hidden costs that must be focused. However, the bottom line is that there are
great costs or amount which can be removed upon the installation or application
of OSS, than using closed-source software, which in need of paying variety of
installation fees which include those related to license.
OSS
can also offers variety of disadvantages that are important to be focused in
order to ensure complete success. These limitations and risks are vital to be
considered in order to ensure that application of OSS is appropriate for a
given business rule or business policy.
The
respondents of the study enable to show the different difficulties that they
are facing in their respective agencies upon the application of OSS. Thus,
majority of them believe that the application of OSS offers difficulty in
implementation and maintenance of the system because there is no direct
technical support which is commonly offered by vendors of closed-source
software. According to Khelifi,
even though there is a community which can offer help for different enquiries
about the different technical issues and errors of the software, it is much
feasible to have a direct contact to those people who are capable, experienced
and knowledgeable about the software, its use and application and the different
codes and procedures that are needed to be done in order to obtain the desired
outcome.
On the other hand, the
consistent and continuous updates of the software can offer advantage because
it enables the organization to stay updated and maintain the consistency and
efficiency of the system, however, it is important to take note that because
there are vast number of people who are involved in the development of the
software which comes from different parts of the globe, from different nations,
from different background and from different organizations, the unpredictable
updates can offer disadvantages due to confusion for the developers or the
employees of a particular organization or department.
There is no doubt that OSS can
offer cost-efficiency and it can help organizations to save cost to be spent
for the preliminary expenses related to the licenses needed for installation.
The result of the study showed that majority of the respondents believe that
there are some underlying factors that must be considered upon analyzing the
cost-effectiveness or cost advantage of OSS over closed-source software. It is
important to take note that there is a great need for employees or staffs with
knowledge and experience in handling OSS in order for him or her to properly
install and implement, and even customize the software based on the demand of
the organization. With this, it is important to focus on the needed knowledge
and capabilities that individual employees in the IT department must have in
order to ensure complete success of the system. As have suggested by the IDA,
OSS are commonly considered as free of charge software, but still considered as
free as a bird due to its free distribution. However, it is important to take
note that there are some underlying costs to be considered upon the
implementation of software. There are some instances that the cost to be spent
for OSS is much higher than its closed-source software counterpart. Or it is
best to assume that the cost to be spent for both software is just the same,
but the distribution of the money to be spent are entire different.
Based
on the result of the study, OSS and closed-source software are entire different
type of software with entirely different types of procedures applied. The main
difference mainly focuses on the orientation. It is simple; OSS enables its
users and developers to access the source code or a specific program or
software, while the other does not (Kerr, 2007). This orientation although can
be considered as simple, offers wide differences for the two.
First,
because its users can access, change and alter the source code of OSS, it
fosters more creativity from its users (Dalle and Jullien). This is because it
motivates its user to adapt and modify the software based on the current
business rules and policies inside the organization. With this, OSS is much
easier to customize than the closed-source software.
In
terms of security, there are different critiques which believe that OSS or
closed-source software offers more security than their counterparts. However,
this remains as a debatable topic, because there are different factors that
must be considered. On the other hand, closed-source software is with no doubt
high in security, because it is being sold by vendors who are profit oriented,
therefore they are very aware that any security threat or issues arise in their
software can affect their names, thus it can affect their market share. On the
other hand, as have repeatedly explained, it is hard to encounter errors and
security risks in OSS because there are great number of individuals or groups
who are continuously assessing, evaluating and testing the software. On the
other hand, during the times of encounter or specific error, it will be easier
to access or obtain the needed patch because, again there are great number of
people who are willing to help in developing solutions to a specific problem.
For
closed-source software, because a specific organization paid for its license
and support for a high price, supports coming from the vendor are always
available. This is part of the marketing strategy of those vendors in order to
maintain good relationship with their customers, at the same time, ensure that
their customers are gaining what they paid for. In oppose, because OSS are
generally for free, there are no direct support system, which will help the
user any time. This is important even though, they can ask for help and advice
in the community, but still direct support will be very helpful in order to
ensure the continuous success of a given system.
In
terms of price, there is a common notion that OSS can offer more cost
effectiveness than closed-source software. However, it is important to assume
that both will cost the same. It is just the distribution of the costs which
the two different. For the closed-software software, the cost will focus on the
license and related aspects of the software. While for the OSS the cost will
mainly focus on the training and knowledge needed by individual employees or
team members involved in order to implement and maintain the system being ran
through OSS.
With
this, in the end, it shows that both offer their own advantages over the other.
Thus, the word superior or advantageous will be hard and vague to describe
these software. This is because both have different characteristics which
pertain on their individual characters which include reliability, usability,
flexibility, costs and performance (Weber, 2002). Thus, it is important to
focus more on the needs and demands of an organization in choosing which of the
two will be applicable and feasible.
UAE is one of those regions in
the world who is taking advantage of the different technological development
for the improvement of government process. Thus, it focus on ensuring the
success of IT implementation, at the same time, focus on the different options
that can be applied in order to improve efficiency, at the same time save cost,
which will lead to the issue of application of OSS in different government
agencies.
This study analyzed the
different advantages and disadvantages which OSS can be offered towards
government agencies in UAE by interviewing those IT professionals in different
government agencies in the said region. The result shows the same results of
other literatures reviewed in this paper. There is no doubt that OSS can offer
different advantages and benefits for government agencies and public
organizations. This is because it can offer cost effectiveness which cannot be
offered by closed-software system. This primarily pertains on the issue of
initial capital and money to be spent in licenses. On the other hand, the fact
that the source code of different software will be available for scrutiny of
anyone will be helpful in order to practice transparency. It will be easier to
audit the different software being used by different agencies in order to
ensure that governance are being implemented in each and every software or
application in the agency, preventing some mischief to happen with the help of programmed
technologies to conceal bad doings.
In addition, the author also
believe that the application of OSS in the IT department of government agency
will be helpful in order to ensure continuous learning process, because of the
fact that there is no direct support offered to them, at the same time, there
is no documentations available, in some cases. Therefore, the IT staffs will
strive to learn on their own and be familiar with the different procedures and
elements involved in the software. With this, it can be helpful in order to
ensure that the staffs and employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills
which will offer competitive advantage for them individually and for the entire
agency, then the entire government.
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Advantages
|
Disadvantages
|
||
Closed-Software
|
OSS
|
Closed-Software
|
OSS
|
·
Dependable and
professional support and availability of training
|
·
Free access to
the source code
|
·
Costly
|
·
Lack of
support from professionals
|
·
Packaged,
comprehensive and modular format
|
·
Absence of
license fees
|
·
Closed
standards is implemented which prevent future enhancement
|
·
Developing
communities of developer
|
·
Source codes are
updated regularly and easily
|
·
Availability
of open standards which ease the integration with other important systems
|
·
Not suited
well to the needs and demands of higher education
|
·
Lack of
coordination with the releases
|
·
Offer the
vendor a sure income
|
·
Can be
customized easily
|
·
May cause
unfair leverage of pricing
|
·
unpredictable
updates
|
·
Developed with
accordance to the needs and demands of the customers
|
·
Does not
depends on a specific provider or vendor
|
·
interrupted
expiry of versions
|
·
no automatic
process of QA
|
·
User-oriented
and mature outcome
|
·
Customers are
not fixed or connected to a provider and vendor, thus lock-in is restricted
|
·
Hardware-intensive
|
·
Documentation
is commonly distinctive and can be absent
|
·
Easy and cheap
to swith to other software
|
·
Limited best
practices implemented
|
||
·
Customers can
handle the problem about the software if needed
|
|||
·
Less
hindrances in entering the software business
|
|||
·
Contribution
and participation in the network of development of software in the world
|
|||
·
Bugs are more
visible to the customers
|
|||
Source: (Khelifi et al. n.d.)
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