Loi 495 – allez le source ouvert!

1999-10-26

Open source received a boost this week, as two French senators proposed a law concerning the use of such software by national and local administrative systems. The driver is one of freedom of access to the software, but the issue is more likely to be one of cost. As reported on \link{http://www.theregister.co.uk,The Register} yesterday, a \link{http://www.senat.fr/grp/rdse/page/forum/index.htm,discussion forum} has been set up on the issue. And the feedback is good.

Comments such as “Un pas vers la démocratie électronique” (a step towards electronic democracy) give an indication of some of the feedback, however this is coupled with fears about the impact on business. It is worth reflecting on what such a move might entail, should it be adopted.

First of all, the imposition of such a law implies that open source is here to stay. There are plenty that believe that it is, but others say that it is an interim stage, made possibly by government subsidy of academia and the political manoeuvres of companies. (Personally, I believe that old software technology can be given away, and new technology developments need to be paid for, but that’s opinion, not analysis). However, given the existence of open source, the question moves to one of delivering value.

Value is benefit minus cost. Benefit from software may be derived from its functionality and ability to interoperate with other packages. Costs are financial, but also relate to intangible costs of procurement, implementation and maintenance. Costs also relate to risk, driven either by security or safety criteria. So – what are the impacts of the open source model? Clearly there is a bottom line cost reduction. The intangible costs require a little more attention: an open source package can lead to reduced cost only if it offers similar functionality to existing packages, whilst reducing the costs of implementation and maintenance. This is the area which is less clear, and which must be judged on a package by package basis.

The issue might stop there if it wasn’t for the appearance, over the horizon, of the ASP. Application Service Providers are to do for software what outsourcing did for IT departments, namely take the responsibility away and enable companies to concentrate on their core business. It may seem a logical step for public organisations to adopt open source where it can, but an even more logical move is to pay a provider to supply software services over the wire. In this way, an organisation can concentrate on its functionality requirements without being distracted by issues of package cost, interoperability or maintenance overhead. In this way it is for the ASP to decide what packages to buy, and whether or not to use Open Source products. The ASP market is still in the crib but, for any organisation wanting to keep control of costs whilst gaining access to the best services, it may well prove to be the answer.

(First published 26 October 1999)