Australia reluctantly contributes to open source

Open source applications differ from their proprietary cousins because the underlying source code used to create an OSS application is freely available. OSS developers are encouraged to make improvements and fix bugs as long as they then share those changes with the rest of the open source community.

Sam Higgins, senior analyst at Forrester in Australia and New Zealand, who authored a report on Australia and New Zealand's OSS adoption rates, told ZDNet Australia that he was "quite shocked" by the number of Australian companies that did not even consider allowing their developers to contribute back to open source projects.

"I was quite shocked that some people said, 'no, we just don't do that'. The implication is that the quality and innovation in software is coming from outside Australia, which would be disappointing," said Higgins.

Higgins explains that he found administrators had been "conditioned" into buying from, and relying on, large software vendors for all updates and bug fixes.

"The problem that Australian firms have IT managers that are used to buying software. If they have a development manager that says, 'hey, I want to get involved in this [OSS] project', the administrator says, 'why do I need to contribute? That is what the vendor is for'," said Higgins.

According to Higgins, this misunderstanding has come about because administrators still treat OSS software in the same way they treat commercial software, which can cause serious issues when dealing with newly discovered bugs and flaws.

"What happens when [the administrator] finds a critical security flaw? A couple of guys I spoke to said 'we just look for the latest fix on the Web site'. What if there isn't one? And they responded: 'Well, we don't know what to do then'," said Higgins.

[Administrators] need to organise themselves and stop treating OSS like commercial software when it isn't, he added.

Australasian OSS adoption lags behind
According to Higgins's report, which was published on Wednesday and compiled with responses from 125 IT decision makes from a range of government and industry sectors, OSS use in Australia and New Zealand is around three times lower than in the US.

The report found that 16 percent of Australasian firms currently use Linux and OSS software with only 8 percent planning on moving systems away from proprietary software over the next year. The report also found that 77 percent of Australasian firms have no plans to adopt any Linux or OSS products over the next 12 months.

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So, which kind of companies don't contribute? tonza -- 16/12/05 (in reply to #120125344)

I worked for a company in Melbourne that did contribute to open source software, and actually donated a couple once-proprietary projects in the process!

So I would like to know what KIND of companies in Australia do and don't contribute to open source that led to the creation of this article! My impression is that because there are not many companies in Australia directly involved in code-cutting for Linux, GNU and other projects, I'd say that this is a pretty poor report of the actuality of contributors to open source in Australia.

-- tonza

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The Oz Factor Tom Russell -- 17/12/05

Back in the last century when the rest of the world had already switched to UNIX and client server, Oz was notable for it's continued use of the mainframe as it's primary architecture.

Oz is a very conservative place. We still predominately buy the Holden branded car, even though everyone knows it's not really made here.
We just love our brand names, and Microsoft is one of them. The penguin will need a well known household name media supporter like Edna or Kylie, if it is to make inroads into the Oz psyche, otherwise when the rest of the world has abandoned Windows, we will invite Bill to become our next Governor General.

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You're all clueless gits Sly Coder -- 17/12/05

Australia, through John Lions and team, was one of the first countries which pushed Unix. The Lions commentary on Unix was legendary, and started most computer scientists on their path in the 70s, 80s and into the 90s, when studying the Linux codebase replaced it as the lingua-franca of OS researchers.

Many of the leading lights in the Linux and open source space are from Australia.

Based on a per-capita basis, Australia is the single largest contributor to open source code globally.

Australia has 300 Linux and open source based businesses.

So, while the Australian governments and corporates have been retarded in their contribution back into the open source community, innovative Australian ICT SMEs and coders have made huge contributions.

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A Question Anonymous -- 18/12/05

Why... Does a company need or is it? MUST run Lunix for a server?

You can't really say Lunix or OSS is safer to use as it's all open code anyone can code in holes into the software allowing people to bust into said software.

This has been a major problem with all the lunix distros just this year.

Also a lot of OSS while maybe being free under GPL once you require business suport you are then required to pay for said support while MS charge for support, with the major Lunix distros you have to pay to get the server software anyway and your having to pay for the support so you can't really say they are free.

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Free Anonymous -- 21/12/05 (in reply to #120125444)

Its free as in choice ;) Of course should you choose to pay for software then you sir are scum. Real freedom comes from *not* paying for software or service ( and Maccas gives you Big Macs for free and charges you for the service ;) )

Remember freedom is only good if you happen to support Open Source, should you lean the other way, you'll burn in Open Source hell ;))

Oh yes, most people have nothing better to do than be hobby coders... and companies dont have to generate income by selling "proprietary" IP. And pigs fly too...

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An answer Anonymous -- 21/12/05 (in reply to #120125444)

"Why... Does a company need or is it MUST run Linux for a server?"

No one's saying it's neccessary. Many choose to because it's cheaper, doesn't require them to upgrade their hardware each time a new version is released, and is less resource intensive (why do you need to run a GUI on a file server?).

"You can't really say Linux or OSS is safer to use as it's all open code anyone can code in holes into the software allowing people to bust into said software."

Just because someone creates a bit of code to be used in a program, that doesn't mean it's automatically going to be accepted for use in the program, and even if it is, peer review means the code has a good chance of being spotted and removed.

"This has been a major problem with all the Linux distros just this year."

I don't recall seeing any report where a security hole was the result of a malicious programmer inserting a security hole into a program, and especially not into the kernel.

"Also a lot of OSS while maybe being free under GPL once you require business suport you are then required to pay for said support while MS charge for support, with the major Linux distros you have to pay to get the server software anyway and your having to pay for the support so you can't really say they are free."

As someone else has said, it's not free as in no cost, it's free as in freedom to choose and to do what you like with the software once you have it. Besides, the costs associated with buying and support for Linux are generally cheaper than the costs of buying and supporting Windows (the Windows licence says you can only install one copy on one computer, whereas the SUSE licence says you install one copy on all computers in your company).

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Contrary to experience Craig Ringer -- 19/12/05

My own experience has been the opposite. I work for a (small-ish) company where I'm quite free to contribute fixes, improvements, etc back to open source projects. In doing so, I notice a LOT of other Australians - a rather disproportionate number, even, though one must allow for bias (I'm more likely to notice and remember if someone's from .au).

What's interesting is that most of them are hobby coders, employed by small companies, or Australians employed by large US firms. I never run into anybody from a medium/large Australian company. Ever.

I suspect it's just these companies that this report refers to... and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

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