Prof. Dr. Wolfgang F. FinkeErnst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena - University of Applied Sciences

www.winf.bw.fh-jena.de

FOSSC Oman 2015SQU / ITA, Muscat/Oman

National FOSS Strategy and the Supporting Role of Research Institutions

Copyright 2015: Wolfgang F. Finke – Creative Commons – some rights reserved

Why all the buzz about FOSS at present?

Which role can FOSS play?

Why do we need information systems management to leverage FOSS advantages?

What are the advantages to utilize FOSS from a national perspective?

Are there roadblocks to FOSS success?

Which role could a FOSS research institution play?

What will be discussed?

High level of maturity after 30 years of development (starting 1983 with GNU-OS)

Large number of reports about FOSS related cost savings

Proven stability of FOSS and the only road to IT security and data privacy

Huge migration projects in China and Russia (“de-Windowsification”)

… and in 2001 the US White House switched its Web-Servers to Linux, Apache, Drupal

Why all the buzz about FOSS at present?

FOSS is not the “silver bullet” of IT

… it is a building block of the software layer of complex computer information systems

Successful IT management is a precondition … but not enough

Information systems management: management of IS from a business perspective

Which role can FOSS play - why do we need Information Systems Management?

Information Management in “Information Factories”

Information Factorywell-structured operational information work – standard office work – electronic collaboration

Computer-supported information and communication systems

technical platforms – basic technical infrastructure (computers, networks, database

systems, development environments)

IT Management

Information Systems Management (CIO)

FOSS

not yet im-plemented

Source code is available (customization, translation of user interfaces etc.)

Less down-time of FOSS-based systems

Better interoperability because of intl. standards

No build-in “back-doors” or “Trojan horses”

Vendor lock-in strategies non-existent

Discontinuation of software non-existent

What are the main advantages of FOSS on the technical level?

What are the benefits of FOSS from a national perspective?

What are the benefits of FOSS from a national perspective? STRATEGIC

What are the benefits of FOSS from a national perspective? ECONOMIC

What are the benefits of FOSS from a national perspective? SOCIAL

Government of Sweden – USD 1 billion per year

Government of Denmark – USD 480-730

Intel Corporation – USD 200 mio.

City of Munich – USD 13 mio

Amazon company - “cut technology expenses by about 25%”

Merrill Lynch - “reduced cost dramatically”

Robert Frances Group (IT Consulting) -60-80% TOC savings

Reports about cost savings are too amazing to be easily rejected

Are there roadblocks to FOSS success?

Are there roadblocks to FOSS success?- government policies to utilize FOSS not in place -

Are there roadblocks to FOSS success?- information management not yet implemented -

Which role could a national FOSSresearch institution play?

Goals and objectives

Internal capacity building

External capacity building

Providing professional IT and IS services and consulting support for government and public institutions

The “chicken or the egg causality dilemma”needs to be solved!

Which role could a FOSSresearch institution play?

Which role could a FOSSresearch institution play?

Which role could a FOSSresearch institution play?

Conclusions - Recommendations

FOSS policy for the public sector

FOSS awareness for information systems managers

MIS program according to ACM standards

Strengthening FOSS education in Computer Science

FOSS-based education in high-schools

Professional courses for FOSS certification

FOSS pilot projects in “high-yield” areas

Oman FOSS Center of Excellence withfocus on applied research

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang F. FinkeErnst-Abbe University of Applied Sciences, Jena/Germany

www.winf.bw.fh-jena.de

Thank You for Your Kind Attention!

References

… please, see references in my conference paper

Finke, Wolfgang F. (2015): National FOSS Strategy and the Supporting Role of Research Institutions.

available at

www.winf.bw.fh-jena.de/www/winf-web.nsf/id/DE_National_FOSS_Strategy_Oman?open&l=DE&ccm=