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Six Barriers to Open Source Adoption

Posted by michael on from the walls-come-a-tumbling-down dept.

securitas writes "ZDNet/CNet's Dan Farber describes the six barriers to enterprise open source software adoption. Briefly, the reasons are 1) Lack of formal support, 2) Speed of change (not 'velocity'), 3) Lack of roadmap, 4) Functional gaps, 5) Licensing caveats and 6) ISV endorsements. The article makes an interesting counterpoint to Marc Andreessen's 12 reasons for open source adoption."

7 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. A few more reasons... by FyRE666 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Hmm, looks to me like they forgot a few:
    • 7: Microsoft
    • 8: Software patents (see point 7)
    • 9: The US Government (see point 7)
    • 10: Most importantly - Influential senior IT staff with a vested interest in keeping MS in the
      server room so as to protect their jobs when they have limited skill sets and no real interest
      in learning
      anything new.
    --
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  2. Duh! Slashdot editors should RTFA. by esconsult1 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Dan Farber succicently explains each point and debunks the reason why there is a barrier in the first place. He adroitly makes a great case for Linux in the enterprise while showing how each barrier can be easily overcome today or in the near future.

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  3. My $0.02 by jwthompson2 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Velocity of change

    Many enterprises are overwhelmed with patches and handling vulnerabilities, as well as the consequences associated with introducing new software into an infrastructure. The fact that the open source community is constantly tweaking its software is a reasonable concern for IT executives. Open source software introduces more complexities in software maintenance, but also promotes more secure and reliable code through rapid bug and vulnerability fixes. Microsoft took 200 days, for instance, to deliver a patch for a particular vulnerability.

    Given that enterprises don't want constant upgrades and optional fixes, the major Linux distributors offer scheduled, rather than just continuous, releases via subscriptions as well certification of the software to alleviate this problem. Red Hat claims to have a database of over one million dependencies to check against as part of its delivery of new patches or functionality.

    ...

    The IT staff I work for like open source because vulnerabilities for the software we would like to use are found seldomly and when they are found they are fixed quickly, not to mention one program doesn't interfere with the others too much. But management listens to slick salespeople from crappy vendors and we end up with products that won't work with the latest security patches to Windows, and now we are left vulnerable on so many fronts because our proprietary software won't work with the updated and 'secure' versions of Windows. My coworkers could care less about how often the products need updating, as long as staying secure doesn't break our systems, Windows is failing for us in that arena.

    Open source at my workplace is stifled by management who don't know the latest tech stuff and listen to vendors more than the folks in the trenches doing the work. Non-tech people are the key roadblock to FOSS adoption, the ever popular 'stupids'.

    --
    Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
  4. Best of Both Worlds by Yoda2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Five simple steps for migrating an office to Linux:
    1. Build "beefy" Windows 2003 Terminal Server with apps that existing Windows users "have to have"
    2. Install favorite Linux distro on all workstations
    3. Install rdesktop on all workstations allowing access to legacy Windows apps
    4. Wean users to Linux applications at comfortable pace
    5. Nix Terminal Server

  5. Re:number 1 reason by cascadefx · · Score: 4, Informative
    According to the announcements at Novell's Brainshare this past week, it looks like all but documentation will be taken care of:

    1. support

    Novell, IBM, and HP are teaming up to offer 3 pronged support options (including training) for Linux and the products that Enterprises will run on top of it.

    2. installation

    Not only will installation be covered, but so will migrations away from Windows ( automagically ... the demo is cool to watch) with the new version of Zenworks from Novell. Installation support is offered by Novell, HP and IBM.

    3. deployment

    Also covered by Zenworks with its new integration of Ximian's Red Carpet.

    5. deploying updates

    Again, Red Carpet and Zenworks offer solutions to this.

  6. Re:Lack of.. by bwt · · Score: 4, Informative

    3) Lack of roadmap

    Lack of roadmap, huh. Tell that to mozilla or open office or MySQL or Gnome or perl or
    Fedora I could go on, but I think you get the point.

    Of course, I prefer a different term than "roadmap" -- vaporware.

  7. Re:Change #1... by XorNand · · Score: 3, Informative

    Citrix CALs run about $300 per seat. Windows XP Pro is about $300. Kinda defeats the purpose.

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