Incremental open source

The adoption of open source software and platforms is often considered to be an all or nothing undertaking that requires the move of an entire technology environment away from proprietary technologies.

In truth, open source can seldom be rolled out in a blanket fashion and it is also often possible to incrementally implement open source strategy without pulling the rug out from under an entire technology stack. This is possible because of the ability of open source to integrate with existing proprietary investments and through compliance with open standards.

A long-term strategy for the adoption of open source is, of course, a good thing. But instead of looking for big wins in the short-term, which can be detrimental to continuity, a more sane strategy is often to analyse existing applications and their ability to operate in an integrated way with open source solutions.

With this entry-level integration in place, organisations can begin to move towards full open source software environment as and when it makes sense to do so, and once organisational structures have been adapted and prepared accordingly.

Most databases, for example, are certified to run on existing enterprise Linux platforms. This is often overlooked as businesses want to immediately migrate to open source database solutions. This is often a huge undertaking and requires much effort in exporting and converting old data. But Oracle, IBM DB2 and Sybase, all prominent database solutions, are also all certified to run on enterprise Linux solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Organisations can, therefore, simply change the base operating system for these solutions to that of an open source solution relatively quickly and easily without having to switch to an entirely new database system.

A medium-term view would then be to look for alternative open source applications. In the short-term, however, a move to open source can be made with little impact on business continuity.

Many open source applications are also available for proprietary platforms. OpenOffice.org, the leading open source productivity suite, for example, is available for Windows and Apple OS X. It is not necessary to migrate desktop machines to Linux in order to use the software.

Many opportunities are missed when organisations attempt to go from zero to 100% in terms of rolling out open source.

Muggie van Staden is MD of Obsidian.

Government`s open source policy is to implement open source software wherever possible and unless there is a proprietary solution available that can be proven to offer more value and make more sense than an open source alternative. The policy is designed to allow government to phase in open source implementation.

Many departments have proceeded to roll-out entire open source environments, and with good success. But for departments that are unable to do so, many short-term wins can be achieved in the move to open source by analysing existing infrastructure and finding places where open source solutions can be rapidly implemented with little to no impact on the environment as a whole.

Many opportunities are missed when organisations attempt to go from zero to 100% in terms of rolling out open source. But it is possible to achieve incremental steps in open source adoption.

The nature of open source is such that the Internet is also full of information for working with and developing open source solutions along with helpful communities that are able to assist technology implementers with all of the information they need for integrating open source with proprietary software systems.

It is also important to enquire as to whether applications are certified to run on Linux. In identifying which existing licensed products can be migrated to open source operating systems, many organisations would be surprised that a good deal of their existing applications have a Linux version available under the same licence.

It is also a good idea to stick with proprietary vendors that are committed to open standards, which allow for better integration between proprietary and open source solutions. Some vendors are known for their commitment to open standards and offer proprietary solutions that are easily integrated with a variety of environments due to this adherence to standards.

Open source solutions are developed to be highly integrateable by nature and to adhere to open standards. Thanks to this, open source adoption does not have to be a nightmare for implementers, but can instead be implemented with a strategy that leads to a series of successful migrations as opposed to one, sweeping roll-out.

* Muggie van Staden is MD of Obsidian.