The potential value and viability of Open Source software solutions in Malta’s Public Administration By Brian Restall Student id.: 0702015 MBA Intake 7, Malta A thesis presented to the Maastricht School of Management in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters in Business Administration at the Abstract Governments use significant amounts of computer software and the Maltese Government alone will be spending around eight million Maltese Lira on Microsoft software licenses between 2004 and 2009. Open source software (OSS) is of major interest to local and international public administrations. Indeed some of them have already decided as a matter of policy to switch to OSS from their previous proprietary software. Governments have established study groups to consider Government support for open source, and some politicians in many countries have introduced legislation to help open source. Few Governments, however, have to date enacted explicit preferences for open source software; a handful of cities in Brazil are the most prominent. Among the main considerations behind switching to open software solutions is greater control over software p1rocesses handling sensitive data, better security and reliability, and most predominantly reduction of costs. On the other hand, public authorities must consider costs associated with the ‘switching process’ in terms of training and capacity building. OSS is a viable long-term solution that merits careful consideration because of the potential benefits however these must also be carefully balanced with a number of risks associated with OSS approaches and products. To date no clear study has been conducted in establishing whether costs related to reliability on OSS are lower than those associated with reliance upon commercial software within the Maltese Public Administration. This paper explains open source, describes its significance and compares open source to traditional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, also known as proprietary software. The paper also presents a business case model and discusses the major benefits and disadvantages of adopting OSS products within the Maltese Public Administration. The paper will also explore whether OSS is an economical alternative to Public Administration’s current reliance upon commercially supplied software, while assessing its viability and identifying barriers that could be encountered. KEYWORDS: Open Source, Open Source Software, Software, Public Administration, Costs, Benefits, Functionality, Viability 1 “The Brazilian Public Sector to Choose Free Software”, 2 June 2003, http://www.pclinuxonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6879 Page 2 Acknowledgments The author would like to acknowledge and thank the other individuals who contributed to this document. I would like to thank Ing. David Dingli for his assistance in producing this document. In particular, thanks to, Daniele Cop for her insights and helpful reviews. Also, thanks to Brian Warrington, Romina Cachia and Joseph Spiteri at the Central Information Management Unit, Reuben Portanier and Victor Buttigieg at Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd, and Damian Xuereb at Ministry for Information and Technology & Investments for the materials they contributed through their efforts in the area of open source within the Maltese Public Service. Nonetheless, the views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author and should not be construed as an official Government position, policy, or decision, unless designated by other documentation. Page 3 Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. 3 Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures.................................................................................................................... 6 List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 8 Executive Summary.......................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION........................................................................... 10 1.1 Research Objectives................................................................................................ 13 1.3 Limitations and Assumptions ................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER TWO: ABOUT SOFTWARE.................................................................... 16 2.1 The Information Technology Market...................................................................... 16 2.2 Types of software.................................................................................................... 17 2.3 General Features of software .................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER THREE: WHAT IS OPEN SOURCE? .................................................... 22 3.1 About Open Source Software ................................................................................. 22 3.2 Open Source Licensing........................................................................................... 26 3.3 The Advantages of Open source............................................................................. 27 3.3.1 Source code...................................................................................................... 28 3.3.2 Stability............................................................................................................ 28 3.3.3 Security ............................................................................................................ 29 3.3.4 Licensing.......................................................................................................... 29 3.3.5 Vendor Lock-in................................................................................................ 30 3.4 The Disadvantages of Open source......................................................................... 30 3.4.1 Support............................................................................................................. 30 3.4.2 Authenticity...................................................................................................... 31 3.4.3 Cognitive competence...................................................................................... 31 3.4.4 Interoperability................................................................................................. 31 3.4.5 Legal Issues...................................................................................................... 32 3.4.6 Graphical User interface .................................................................................. 32 3.5 Open Source market and use................................................................................... 33 3.5.1 OSS Market Share............................................................................................ 33 3.5.2 Open Source Use by Governments Worldwide ............................................... 37 3.5.3 Government expenditure on software.............................................................. 38 3.6 Needs and Benefits of OSS to Government............................................................ 41 3.6.2 Developing Local Industry .............................................................................. 43 3.6.3 National Security Issues................................................................................... 43 3.6.4 Open Standards and Vendor Lock-in............................................................... 44 3.6.5 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Piracy ................................................. 44 3.6.6 Localisation...................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER FOUR: THE GOVERNMENT BUSINESS CASE ................................. 46 4.1 Environmental Scanning......................................................................................... 48 4.1.1 External Environment Scanning ...................................................................... 48 Page 4 A. PEST Analysis ................................................................................................. 48 4.1.2 Internal Environment Scanning ....................................................................... 52 A. OSS Survey across the Ministries.................................................................... 52 B. The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement............................................................... 58 4.3 SWOT Analysis Applied to Open Source Products and Processes ........................ 60 4.4 Analysis of the main strategic factors for OSS within the Public Service.............. 63 4.4.1 Strengths .......................................................................................................... 63 4.4.2 Weaknesses...................................................................................................... 65 4.4.3 Opportunities.................................................................................................... 65 4.4.4 Threats.............................................................................................................

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