The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008

Sponsors & Industry Community Map of Education & Supporters Respondents Skills 5 9 11 12 15 Careers & Innovation The Market Business Opinion Employment Development 17 19 19 21 23 Methodology.

The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report was Promotion commissioned and executed by Waugh Partners, with the financial support of sponsors, NICTA, IBM and Fujitsu. The Census was directly promoted through a national roadshow which traveled to every capital city, on several mailing lists including We worked closely with psychometricians and statisticians provided by Australia, Open Source Industry Australia and user groups around the NICTA, our primary research partner, to ensure the end-to-end quality country, and through direct contact with Open Source community of the research. While our sponsors and supporters provided feedback members and companies. Indirect promotion included blogging, media at numerous points throughout the project lifecycle, this report is the coverage, and notification to members of the Australia Computer result of independent analysis by Waugh Partners. It is based on data Society, AIIA, OzZope and numerous other organisations. collected through a pair of online surveys held between October and December 2007. Projections

Community We have been very careful to make conservative projections, particularly related to industry revenue. The community survey was aimed at “individuals who contribute to Open Source projects and communities in any capacity, not just Our projected industry and export revenue figures are based upon software development”, and received 315 complete and legitimate the projected industry size and spread of companies compared to the responses, with 66 incomplete. Twelve of those incomplete responses broader ICT industry, using the combined mid-point of each revenue were deemed legitimate and complete enough to include in the final bracket, and an upper limit of $5M (as defined in the survey itself). We results. wanted to ensure our figures were broadly applicable, not swamped by 4 or 5 large companies. The projected Open Source related revenue We conservatively estimate that our sample of 327 respondents was found by combining each company’s revenue and their percentage represents roughly 10% of the total Australian Open Source community, revenue related to Open Source, and then extrapolating as per our which is well above the 5% required for statistical significance. This industry projections. understanding of the size of the community is based on membership of community organisations, mailing list subscriptions around the References country, user group attendance figures and other information about the community. The survey results were designed to be comparable to existing data sets in order to assess the state of the Open Source industry and community Industry against the broader ICT industry, workforce and Australian population. A few key comparisons and references throughout the report include: The industry survey was aimed at “companies that sell, support or • DCITA Overview of Australian ICT Industry 2006 (DCITA 2006) service Open Source related technologies in the Australian market”, and received 129 complete and legitimate responses, with 69 incomplete or • ACS Industry Report 2008 (ACS 2008) duplicated. • Australian ICT Trade Update 2007 (Houghton 2007)

We conservatively estimate that our sample of 129 respondents • AGIMO Open Source Overview 2007 (AGIMO 2007) represents roughly 25% of a particular segment of the Australian Open • Open Source Industry Australia 2005 Survey (OSIA 2005) Source industry. This segment is well-connected within the industry, tightly-knit with the community, and leans towards some of the core • South Australian Open Source Business Survey 2007 (SA 2007) platform technologies in the Open Source world – Linux and LAMP in • Free/Libre Open Source Software: Policy Support, Gender: particular. We are comfortable with this leaning, as our results show Integrated Report of Findings (FLOSSPOLS 2006) that respondents represent a dedicated core of the industry (over 50% earn greater than 70% of their revenue from Open Source activities), • Open Source Software in Canada (CanFLOSS 2003) our projections take this leaning into account, and that we have not attempted to make estimates about those in the industry who do not Definitions self-identify as Open Source service and solutions providers. Where possible, we have used Australian Bureau of Statistics definitions, Our estimate of the size of the industry is based upon Open Source such as industry sectors, ICT job descriptions and company sizes: Micro Industry Australia membership, additional lists of companies maintained (1-4), Small (5-20), Medium (21-200), Large (over 200). by other Open Source organisations, and companies that Waugh Partners are aware of through our substantial work in the industry. It is FLOSS: Free, Libre and Open Source Software. Though we have referred worth pointing out that around half of the respondents to the Census to the businesss and methodology of “Open Source” throughout this were not previously known to us, but were verified as active players in report, we believe that the philosophy of “Software Freedom” is of the industry. equal importance.

2 Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 Introduction.

In our interaction with business, Open Source is a key platform for Australian government, education and innovation and productivity. The shared Open the Open Source industry, we Source development model allows us to solve common problems in collaboration with the have found a sharp disconnect global community, and create new value built between the perceptions held on these common foundations. by the market, and the reality of Open Source in Australia. We are already good at this.

We knew that our country has produced some Our industry and community are strong of the world’s most influential Open Source and well-connected in ways that few innovators and projects. We knew that clever, other countries have achieved. Australian home-grown Open Source companies were contributors are recognised as leaders in the succeeding in local and export markets. global Open Source community.

But we didn’t have the numbers. Until now. Our industry is investing in Open Source research and development, while finding The Australian Open Source Industry & success in export markets. International Community Report delivers those numbers, companies are hiring Australian Open Source to encourage an informed conversation about experts, here and abroad. the potential for Open Source in Australia. We host one of the world’s best technical You see, we have a problem. The Australian Open Source conferences, linux.conf.au, ICT trade deficit stands at a discombobulating which attracts many of the best and brightest $21 billion... 80% of our total trade deficit developers from around the world, each and (Houghton 2007). every year.

Most of that is equipment, necessary to the Now it’s time for some local attention. productive use of ICT in this country. In broad terms, there are few opportunities for savings In this report, we have highlighted our findings among our ICT imports, which means we have from the Australian Open Source Industry to make it up in exports. & Community Census surveys, and included experiences from some of the companies In good times and in bad. With or without a and people who influence the Open Source resources boom. industry and community in Australia.

In fact, we believe that the ICT industry has We hope that it leads you to a better a responsibility to help equalise this immense understanding of the our industry and ICT trade deficit – through improved export community, and the immense potential revenue and real productivity gains for other for Open Source in Australian business, Australian industries. government and education.

Jeff and Pia Waugh waughpartners.com.au

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 3 Primary Sponsor.

Open Source is arguably the most significant movement in the software world of the past decade. Its impact is both pervasive and disruptive, and the importance of Open Source solutions to government and business organisations of all sizes continues to grow.

As Australia’s national ICT research centre of excellence, NICTA is committed to the ongoing support of Open Source software, both as a business enabler and as a foundation for research and innovation – the genesis of new tools, platforms, companies, and even whole industry sectors.

While NICTA’s intellectual property protection spans the whole spectrum from open to closed source, there is no question that Open Source is now a part of NICTA’s DNA. It is in the tools we use to conduct original use-inspired ICT research, it is in many of technologies we develop and release to the world at large, and it is used within our internal business systems.

In August 2006, NICTA announced the creation of Open Kernel Labs, a new spin-out company to take NICTA R&D expertise in Open Source platforms to the global embedded systems market. In this case, Open Source has enabled an effective business model for a new software company to compete globally, without the sales and marketing budget of a cash-rich multinational.

More recently, NICTA researchers have been behind a major initiative to rationalise international research outputs in the field of machine learning on an Open Source platform.

NICTA is excited to be a part of the Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report project to understand more about this industry and community, and the opportunities that Open Source will continue to provide for Australian innovation.

Prof. Bob Williamson, Scientific Director www.nicta.com.au

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 5 Sponsors.

it first donated $40 million worth of tools to the Eclipse project in November 2001. IBM continues to donate code and resources (over $1 billion since 2001) with recent donations to OpenOffice.org in November 2007.

IBM has built a substantial environment around Open Source software that includes ensuring most of IBM’s key Software Products operate on IBM Australia Ltd is proud to be a financial sponsor of the 2008 Linux, running OSS labs (of which one is located in Canberra, Australia) Australian Open Source Community & Industry Census conducted by leading and participating in Open Source projects, being members Waugh Partners. of many OSS industry groups (eg, OSDL, ODF Alliance) introducing partnerships with Red Hat and Novell (elevating them to IBM’s Strategic The results of the Census allow our clients and other businesses to Alliance program) and other activities around Open Source software. obtain factual information with regard to Open Source adoption in Australia, and allow our clients to move forward positively in IBM’s philosophy on “Freedom of choice” for software, hardware and deploying Open Source software (OSS). There are many instances services and leadership in industry standards provides customers with where OSS does not yet compete with commercial software and security, flexibility and control of their IT infrastructure and applications. hence IBM recommends businesses choose OSS which will integrate This in turn, supports their need for dynamic, flexible, interchangeable with commercial software as required to best meet the needs of their business processes. IBM uses Linux, Open Source and industry standard business. architectures to extend the value of our software, hardware and services to provide customers choice in becoming an on demand business. The census results are important to IBM and Australian businesses as they prove that the OSS industry in Australia has matured. Simple facts If you would like further information on how IBM can help enable your such as 46% of respondents gained 70% or more of their revenue from company with Open Source software, please contact your local IBM Open Source activities suggest that Australian businesses are already representative or visit www.ibm.com/linux. taking advantage of what OSS has to offer. Kevin Wilson, Lotus Competitive Solutions Executive IBM has been a long term supporter of Open Source software since IBM Software Group (A/NZ)

At Fujitsu Australia Software Technology (FAST) we enthusiastically the business relevance of Open Source is gathering pace in a way that support the launch of the first Australian Open Source Industry & many may not have foreseen. Community Report. The great story that is emerging nowadays is that it’s possible to This initiative aligns closely with one of our key objectives of promoting have an entire end-to-end Open Source stack from operating system the business relevance of Open Source. Impressing the business and database, through to middleware and application software. For usefulness of Open Source is increasingly important now that the many businesses, this type of configuration can realise substantial cost technical excellence of many of these products is so firmly established. advantages, and better strategic positioning.

In many respects, FAST’s involvement and promotion of Open Source is At FAST, we will continue to promote Open Source solutions to no different from its involvement and promotion of proprietary software customers for whom this represents the best option. As the range of – we are motivated to deliver the best value and the best return on Open Source software available continues to grow and further evolve, investment to our customers. The challenge for us, and every Open it is expected that adoption of such solutions by our customers will Source vendor, is to properly communicate that message. increase steadily in coming years. In our view, the future of Open Source is bright for both vendors and customers. The growth in business adoption of Open Source software continues to gain significant momentum. This adoption is further accelerating with Liam O’Dubhir, Product Manager, Open Source Software the recent trend towards Open Sourced business applications, most www.fastware.com.au notably in sectors such as CRM and ERP. This is a strong indicator that

6 Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 Supporters.

Open Source Industry Australia is Open Source software is here to stay. Smart the industry association for Australian companies have found that turning to Open organisations developing, selling and Source delivers real competitive advantages. supporting Open Source Software solutions to Organisations adopting Open Source are all sectors of our economy, and indeed in the also finding benefits in contributing back to global marketplace. OSIA takes a proactive role the community. The resulting collaboration in promoting the interests of the industry to between community and industry creates a business and government within Australia. co-operative ecosystem where users become contributors and improvements are shared. A robust local industry has emerged to support Australian businesses deploying Open 39% of Census industry respondents reported Source based technology. There is a high already being a member of OSIA. We welcome demand for Open Source skills, with wages others to join as we work together to promote competitive within the ICT industry. Within the benefits of adopting Open Source this thriving environment, OSIA facilitates and solutions and engaging with the community. supports access to skills and certifications for its members and the community to meet the Donna Benjamin, Director increasing demand for Open Source solutions. www.osia.net.au

Linux Australia is the peak body for Linux Industry Report and thanks Waugh Partners for User Groups and the broader Free and Open their efforts in conducting the Census. Source Software community around the country. We are pleased to see that the information gathered confirms our perception of the Every year it facilitates linux.conf.au, an strength and diversity of the Open Source international conference for the Free and community. Linux Australia feels this strength Open Source Software Community, in a and diversity is indicative of how successful different Australasian city. This conference is we and the many Linux User Groups nationally a focal point for the Australian Open Source have been in supporting, extending and community. Linux Australia supports a number evangelising Linux and Free and Open Source of other community activities throughout Software (FOSS). the year such as and provides representation at industry events and Further information about Linux Australia and engagement with government. the community can be found at our website.

Linux Australia welcomes the publication of Stewart Smith, President the Australian Open Source Community & www.linux.org.au

The NSW Government through the production and exports. It is equally important Department of State and Regional in supporting high growth industries in all Development is proud to support the Open areas of the economy, by virtue of the lower Source Industry & Community Report, the first costs and improved productivity that ICT-driven national effort to quantify the demographics businesses can deliver. of the industry in Australia. The Open Source technologies sector will The Department of State and Regional contribute to the competitive position of Development is the NSW Government’s NSW into the future. Its dynamic nature and business development agency and works the extent of innovation, collaboration and with business to strengthen the State’s global entrepreneurship in the sector can provide competitiveness, promote investment, job the basis for economic growth in modern and creation and build business capability. sophisticated economies like NSW.

Information and communications technology Sumeet Kumar, Department of State and (ICT) is an important industry sector for NSW. Regional Development It is a major element of the NSW services www.business.nsw.gov.au sector in terms of employment, value of

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 7 Bob Waldie, Chairman and CEO of the export market. 50% of its sales are to Open Source solutions are very much Opengear, is a serial entrepreneur who the US and the company has distribution in that category – into more advanced has spent over 20 years building Open partners in 17 other countries including export markets. The fact is that Australia Source technology companies. He served China, Japan, Germany and the UK. Bob has many pockets at the forefront of as CEO and then Chairman of Linux-based says the focus on overseas markets was a technology development, particularly security applicance vendor SnapGear deliberate strategy. in the open source space, but with few which was acquired by CyberGuard in exceptions we are laggards in commercial 2003. He then co-founded his current “It is easier to sell next adoption of new ICT solutions.” venture, Opengear in 2004. generation solutions into Bob believes that Open Source technology Opengear makes products which enable will be increasingly competitive in an secure remote access and control of more advanced export overseas market which is demanding computers and communications devices markets.” more cost effective solutions, and robust in distributed networks. The company’s security and and compliance – all things research and development is based in “The reality is it easier to sell next which Open Source technology is uniquely Brisbane, but it is focused on supplying generation solutions – and commercial positioned to satisfy. Industry.

Our conservative projection Open Source industry growth rate All states and territories are well supported, of earnings suggests that with nation-wide coverage of company the Open Source industry headquarters and support capacity. South Australia appears to be particularly strong, generates $500 million in seeing an over-represention of companies to revenue each year, with over the general population, when compared with 50% of that being directly other states (see Community). related to Open Source. Concerns Size & Strength The availability of Open Source vendor support Despite a common mental picture of Open was the chief concern expressed by Australian Source companies as “one-man band” Government agencies in the 2007 AGIMO contractors, the industry is in fact extremely Open Source Survey, and this perception diverse. Ranging from sole traders to large is regularly mirrored in the local business multinationals, only 50% of respondents have community. fewer than 5 employees, compared to 78% of Services & Support the broader ICT industry (ACS 2008). Understandably, this has had a negative impact Most of the industry (70-80%) provides the on the commercial uptake of Open Source It’s clear that the companies surveyed classic mainstays of Open Source services – solutions in Australia. represent a focused and well-defined industry software development and customisation, sector, with almost half of the respondents implementation and migration, and support It is unsurprising that these misconceptions (46%) making 70% or more of their revenue and maintenance. Not only do these represent remain a problem, given that two thirds of the from Open Source related activities. Our the most common commercial services, but industry employ over 50% technical staff, and conservative projection of earnings suggests also the top three most lucrative, from which are more likely to be focused on getting the that the industry generates $500 million in 75% of respondents made the majority of job done than self-promotion. revenue each year, with 50% of that being their income. directly related to Open Source. The results in this report suggest that while Significantly, 43% claimed that software capability and local support options for Open This apparent disconnect between the Open development was their most lucrative service, Source solutions are in fact quite strong, Source related portion of individual company while only 4% made the majority of their the industry must work to quash lingering revenue and that of the industry is due to the income from the sale or resale of software misconceptions. broad range of company sizes and different licenses – “will code for food” could not Open Source business models in play. be further from the truth! This practical, Open Source vs. ICT business size commercial software development capacity, The promise of commercial success with built on robust and inexpensive Open Source Open Source beckons. The dot-com bust platforms, represents a huge opportunity for period appears to have encouraged existing Australian business and Government. companies to add Open Source to their roster of services, and now a growing number of Gross revenue in Australian market new companies are joining the Open Source industry every year.

Percentage Open Source related revenue

Technical focus of Open Source industry

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 9 Andrew Tridgell has spent nearly two decades as a leader, active developer and community builder for Free and Open Source software. He was the instigator of the SAMBA project, arguably one of the world’s most important Open Source projects, and says he’s proud to be part of the Australian Open Source community. “The enthusiasm, open spirit and technical depth of this community shines through year after year, producing world-leading work in a huge variety of projects.”

Tridge says the Antipodean spirit shines through in the casual yet deeply technical nature of linux.conf.au, our leading FOSS conference. “LCA is the highlight of the year for me, and it’s become a much admired icon in the huge range of Free Software conferences held around the world each year.”

Always looking for a new hacking adventure, Tridge now works as part of IBM OzLabs, which he describes as a fantastic group of free software developers who manage to produce a prodigious amount of good code “despite the appearances of never being away from the pool table for long”.

“The Australian Free Software community knows that it is playing a leading role in a world IT revolution, but we approach it in a relaxed manner, happy in the knowledge that we’re making the world a slightly better place, and having a heap of fun in the process. It’s world domination, Australian style.”

Kimberlee Weatherall is an intellectual property lawyer and academic who says her involvement with Open Source came about almost by accident. A senior lecturer in the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, Kimberlee says she became aware of the Open Source community and its legal issues and concerns about developments in IP through her work in academia.

“Over time I found myself working on Open Source issues more. I couldn’t write code then, and still can’t, but that hasn’t stopped me being involved, and feeling welcome at some very techie conferences and events.”

Kimberlee presented papers at linux.conf.au in 2007 and 2008 on the state of IP globally and its impact in Australia. From 2002 to 2007 she contributed to public understanding of IP issues in Australia by publishing Weatherall’s Law, a blog which discussed the impact of laws such as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the Free Trade Agreement with the USA. “It’s a smart, exciting, interesting, and friendly community - slightly addictive even.”

Kimberlee was awarded the annual Rusty Wrench award for service to the free software community at linux.conf.au in 2007.

10 Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 Community.

The Australian Open Source Ages of community respondents of community participants in Australia over community is more diverse the last eight years. Overall, the community than the stereotypical young, is enjoying solid growth, with an increasing number of fresh faces, of diverse ages and single, student programmer. backgrounds, getting involved every year.

Interstate & International Community Engagement

State representation of the community is The community is active, engaged and well similar to the general population, with notable connected, with 65% of respondents holding over-representation in the ACT and South membership of a community organisation such Australia. This strength may be due to the as Linux Australia or a local user group, and large amount of Open Source related research 61% attending Open Source conferences. and defense work in SA, and the presence of Family status inspiring developers such as Dr Andrew Tridgell at the IBM OzLabs Linux Technology Centre in the ACT. A surge of contributors born in the late 60s and early 70s are likely to have encountered The community represents 28 countries of early Free Software such as GCC – and the origin, including Australia (80%), the UK (4%), eventual arrival of the Linux operating system New Zealand (3%), China (2%) and Germany in 1991 – during university. (2%), while 7% are Australians living overseas (see Business Development). Many of the 42% of respondents aged 25-34 would have found Open Source through Generations university or other educational venues during its popular development and industry boom in While the median age of the community (30) the late 90s and early 00s. There were more is lower than the median age of the Australian 25 year old respondents than any other age. population (36.9), a broad range of ages are represented – the youngest respondent was The 1999 debut of linux.conf.au (as CALU) 11 years old, and the oldest was 67. Over half is partially responsible for the large upswing of the community are in a relationship, while almost a third have children. The “children of Generations of community growth Linux” are growing up – and raising the next generation of the Open Source community! 7.3% We found three clear ‘generations’ of Open women Source contributors. The first coincided with early Unix and code sharing long before it Women represent just 15% of workers in became known as “Open Source”. Now the ICT industry (ACS 2008). So, while the between 45 and 55, we endearingly refer to representation of women in the Australian them as our “greybeards” (hirstute or not). Open Source community is indeed low, Open Source companies, individuals and general population by state 7.3% is comfortably higher than the 1.5% suggested by FLOSSPOLS (2006).

Women tend to join the community later than men, albeit with a slower growth rate overall. Events such as linux.conf.au have seen a huge growth in the numbers of female attendees (15% in 2008 up from 4% in 2003), largely as a result of the popular Linuxchix mini-conference, which began in 2007.

While fewer women are unemployed, they received lower salaries than men – even for equivalent jobs. More women were employed as web developers, and more worked in casual, part-time and contracting roles than their male colleagues.

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 11 Open Source software is used extensively Professor Mark Looi, Deputy Dean of engineering courses, something we’ve at the Queensland University of the Faculty says that “Open Source has tried to reinforce in capstone projects by Technology by the Faculty of IT. Some contributed significantly towards the allowing many students to make their of the key advantages of Open Source as success of the teaching, particularly in own technology decisions. Happily, we’ve a teaching platform are added flexibility, the networking and software engineering received very good support from both lower costs, and transparency. areas, where the inherent flexibility sides of the open-proprietary divide.” of Open Source enables students to Undergraduate students are exposed to experiment more creatively and gain more The Faculty of IT uses Open Source within Open Source right from their first semester in-depth, hands on skills.” the teaching program, and also has many of study, through to study at advanced staff members who actively contribute to postgraduate levels, alongside with Associate Professor Jim Hogan says, “At both the development of Open Source proprietary software, thus enabling them QUT we have long tried to expose our projects and the use of Open Source to make well-informed choices as to the students to both proprietary and Open to share the results of active research merits of both. Source technology stacks in the software projects. Education & Skills.

The most valuable Open participating in the Open Source community, in the area of general programming, which is Source skills are forged particularly among the younger age groups. the hardest to recruit of all the skills. outside the classroom, in the Exposure to Open Source platforms and communities during university years appears to The most desired personal attributes were hands-on lessons of open, be habit-forming. motivation, reliability, ability to learn, and collaborative development attention to detail. The cultivation of these and practical, commercial QUT was the most popular university among skills and attributes should be considered by experience. The industry and respondents, while the University of NSW ICT education institutions and schools as the community are very much produced the highest earners. bare minimum to prepare students for the rapidly growing Open Source workforce. aware of this, but most of our Further qualtitative investigation into the state formal educational institutions of Open Source education among our primary The industry’s awareness of the value of have some homework to do. institutions will be the focus of an upcoming community participation suggests a strong research project. case for education institutions to better Community engage with the community as a mechanism Industry for learning and job opportunities – and the While the “student coding in his bedroom industry needs to support such efforts. late at night” stereotype is now widely The Open Source industry is hungry for understood to be a flawed picture of the skilled workers (see Careers & Employment), Industry perception of education venues Open Source community, it is difficult to but tends to view the influence of formal Do you think the current level and depth of Open discount the significant contribution of student education similarly to the community. Source education in the following categories deliver procrastination to the public good. the skills and competencies you require? Industry participants clearly ranked experience Indeed, 54% of respondents hold a university in Open Source projects, followed closely by degree, 16% are currently studying full time, experience in an Open Source company, as the with an additional 7% studying part time. On most valuable experience for new employees. the whole, members of the community are more likely to be well-paid professionals than Respondents were less convinced about the students eating pizza and living at home. value of formal education, and did not believe that institutions such as universities, technical Most respondents (67%) believed that their colleges or high schools could deliver the skills Open Source skills were learned outside formal and competencies they required. education – instead they were self-taught, or learned in practical and social settings such as The technical and development skills most Open Source projects and mailing lists. desired by the industry include general programming skills, Linux, web technologies All is not lost for universities, however: Time and PHP in particular. The experience of spent at university correlates closely with community respondents correlates well with the period in which respondents began the skills required by the industry – particularly

Where we learn Open Source skills Industry value of training & experience Most popular Australian universities How much do you value the following Open Source Percentage of university attendees indicated below. certifications and training in new employees? Queensland Uni. of Technology 7.3%

University of Sydney 6.8%

Australian National University 6.3%

University of Queensland 6.3%

University of Melbourne 6.3%

Monash University 5.9%

University of New South Wales 5.9%

University of Adelaide 5.9%

University of Western Australia 4.9%

University of Tasmania 3.9%

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 15 Like many software developers, Rusty new technology resources and options Experience with open source technology Russell began exploring programming without stretching the budget. Experience can help developers by giving them more and open source technology while he taught him how easy it is to participate in options in how they overcome technical was still at school. Ten years after his Open Source development through online challenges, says Rusty. involvement in Open Source helped him collaboration. This participation plugged land his first job, Rusty’s contribution to him into a global network of Open “Even when I was a contractor for a much the community has included the founding Source developers which helped hone his larger organisation, my knowledge of of Australia’s annual Free & Open Source technical skills and gave him access to a Open Source enhanced my performance. I Software conference, linux.conf.au, now global job market. knew that we could modify Linux to meet in its 8th year. our unique requirements which no off- the-shelf offering could fulfill.” Rusty says his involvement with Open “The first indicator of Source has been integral to his technical passion and talent is the Now a senior software developer with and career development. His exposure IBM Australia, Rusty says programmers to Open Source in the workforce started Open Source projects with Open Source experience are in high in his very first job working in a small demand. In fact, demonstrated activity in company which turned to Open Source to which someone has Open Source development puts people at technology to give the IT team access to contributed or founded.” the top of his hire list. Careers & Employment.

Community respondents are Employment status support staff respondents earn a pay bracket mostly full-time employed higher ($88k compared to around $63k). ICT professionals, many of We will be doing an updated comparison with whom found Open Source the broader industry figures once the ABS work and skills through statistics for 2007 are available in late 2008. their participation in the community… However, some From Community to Industry are not involved in ICT at all. The growing number of new participants in the community loosely corresponds with the Employment number of new people entering the Open Source workforce over the following five years. The community represents a diverse range of Considering the high value employers place skilled participants, from ICT professionals to on experience in the Open Source community, journalists, lawyers, teachers and artists. it is clear that this participation can lead to a lucrative career path. Although software engineering was the most common role among community respondents, Industry Employment Requirements there were only 23% in total. It is encouraging to note that 43% of the community are paid to work on Open Source We project that over 10,000 people are While the majority of the community are in some capacity. employed by the Open Source industry in employed in ICT related roles (86%), only Australia, of which around 4000 are technical 29% work in the ICT industry itself. Those Salaries staff. The Open Source industry will need to not working in ICT roles at all (14%) bring employ over 3,400 workers in the next 1-2 new perspectives, priorities, and skills that While the median salary for full time years, of which 65% are technical roles. strengthen the community and make Open ICT professionals in the community isn’t Source increasingly relevant and useful to the particularly high ($68k with a $83k average) The industry is facing many recruitment broader population. compared to the broader industry, those challenges with 58% of companies saying working full time with Open Source (10%) do skilled Open Source workers are either difficult, Most of the community are employed full- earn substantially more ($88k median with a or extremely difficult to find. time, with only 24% employed part-time, $100k average). casual or as a contractor. Of the 10% not The most difficult skills to recruit include working, 6.1% are engaged in full time study. Software developer salaries are on par with programming (45%), web development (22%) Only 3.9% are neither studying or working. the rest of the industry, however the computer and solutions architecture (22%). However, these skills correlate well with the capability Years involved in community, industry, and ICT in general and learning capacity of the broader Open Source community. Most companies (56%) expect to acquire their new skills through recruitment, and 44% of companies expect to train existing staff.

Toughest Open Source skills to recruit

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 17 Gernot Heiser and Ben Leslie are the uptake of a technology, and large “In an R&D context, you’re frequently software developers behind Open Kernel numbers of potential customers can be pushing the limits of the systems you’re Labs, a company which started life as a reached at little cost,” says Ben. working with. Open Source allows you to research project at the University of NSW. fix those limitations rather than being at It evolved into a commercial venture Open Source provided a cost effective way the mercy of a supplier,” says Ben. which spun off from leading ICT research to develop the technology – which was of organisation NICTA in 2006. They have critical importance in a university research Ben says open sourcing its system has used the advantages of Open Source to where budgets were tight. But it provided been the key to Open Kernel Lab’s be globally competitive even against larger technological advantages as well. success. “Better than any slick demo this and better resourced multinationals. showed that it was real, it let interested “Using an Open Source parties evaluate it without even talking to The OKL4 operating system, developed by us, and gave them a degree of certainty Open Kernel Labs, is on millions of mobile model is one of the about the cost they would be facing. “ phone handsets and will be on millions of best ways to achieve set-top boxes in the near future. “Open Source is not the right model for significant uptake of a everything, but where it is applicable “Using an Open Source model is one it is an immensely powerful means for of the best ways to achieve significant technology.” breaking into a market.” Innovation.

The Australian industry and A research project into the economic impact Open Source, and demonstrates that there are community constitutes a and opportunity of Open Source in Europe more people in the community with the right powerhouse of innovation and showed “increasing the [Open Source] share skills available to fulfill industry needs. of software investment from 20% to 40% Open Source world leadership. would lead to a 0.1% increase in annual EU R&D spending and outlook GDP growth excluding benefits within the Capacity for Innovation ICT industry itself – i.e. over Euro 10 billion annually”. Almost 60% of our community contribute to over 316 unique Open Source projects, with Contributing to Innovation most participating in multiple communities. The Australian Open Source industry tends Nearly a third of our contributors hold toward innovative behaviour, committing leadership roles in their software projects, significant resources to R&D ($50 million total), which demonstrates that we are very strong which appears to be a natural function of their participants and leaders in Open Source, participation in the Open Source community. especially for such a small population. 50% of respondents claim that over 90% of During a visit to Australia in 2005, Mark their R&D spending is related to Open Source, Shuttleworth, founder of said, “I’ve and spending is expected to rise 7% over the found that there is a really strong talent pool coming financial year, against the declining here in Australia around Open Source, so trend of the broader ICT industry (ACS, 2008). that’s been very encouraging.” The industry strongly encourages staff While Australia has been one of the highest participation in Open Source development, contributors per capita to Open Source around with 62% of respondents allowing staff to the world (Boston Consulting Group 2002), in work on Open Source in work time. recent years our leadership has been eclipsed by Europe as a result of significant investment This can be compared with almost half of the in Open Source by governments and the EU. community paid in some capacity to work on The Market. Client market sectors serviced

The Australian market for The top industries serviced by the industry are Open Source is very strong currently property & business (an ABS category in both the private and public that includes ICT companies), education, health, retail and government. Additionally, sectors, and rapidly growing. respondents are experiencing the strongest growth for Open Source services and solutions Industry responses have provided a prism in property & business (ICT), education and through which we can better understand the government. market of commercial Open Source users. While some users and industry figures have Size of Open Source industry clients adopted a “doom and gloom” attitude to Open Source in Australian business and government, it seems that many successful players – and their users – are seeing a very different picture.

With 61% of respondents servicing large organisations (200+ employees), it is clear that SMEs are not the sole domain of Open Source services and solutions. These figures demonstrate that the industry must work harder to make its success stories known through case studies and focused messaging.

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 19 Vquence CEO Silvia Pfeiffer came to absolutely necessary to have it as open annual open media software workshop Australia as a skilled migrant and has standards and invaluable to provide which attracts developers from around the capitalised on our active ICT and Open reference implementation as Open Source globe. Source development community to software,” she says. The W3C is now develop a successful startup business. evaluating the technology as part of its Silvia is the key organiser of the activities to standardise new video web Foundations of Open Media Summit Silvia arrived in Australia from Germany technologies. (FOMS), former vice president of the in 1999 as PhD graduate in digital Sydney (SLUG) and media. She joined the CSIRO to work on Silvia’s career path in digital media also president of the Annodex Association. automated audio-visual content analysis opened up business opportunities for her algorithms for video, and through this – she is now CEO of Australian start‑up “The quality and calibre work became involved in several Open Vquence, a company which provides Source projects including the development services in social video metrics.But she is of the Australian Open of Annodex, a project centred around the one of many ICT professionals who realise Source community is creation of interlinked video and audio the benefits of fostering the ‘virtuous content webs. circle’ of technology development an asset that we should and community around Open Source “For such a project to succeed, it was technology, through events like FOMS, an make the most of.” Business Development.

Open Source solutions and Immigration & Emigration Only 16% of the Open Source industry have innovation provide numerous received external funding, of which 62% business development Open Source contributors are choosing to enjoy Federal or State Government support. live and work in Australia. Around 20% of There are significant opportunities for business and export opportunities respondents have migrated here from 28 development in partnership with government for Australia and our ICT countries, and most (87%) have become that the vast majority of the industry is not sector, but more must be Citizens or Permanent Residents. Even without exploring. done to harness our existing a strategy in place to attract skilled Open skills base and potential. Source contributors to our shores, Australia State and Federal Governments are aware of stands to benefit from their participation and the need for a strong local ICT industry, and skills in the long term. have made numerous grant and business Exports development schemes available. The Open Of the 7% of respondents living overseas, Source industry should explore and pursue Around half of the Open Source industry most (76%) believe that better Open Source these opportunities in partnership with State respondents service export markets (45%), employment opportunities exist outside and Federal Governments. generally providing computer and information Australia. The core reasons for moving to the services. Export revenue is estimated at over US or UK are better career opportunities and Open Source industry export revenue $60M, with a majority of exporters projecting increased remuneration, while those living growth in web and embedded development. in countries such as China, New Zealand and Thailand chose to do so for lifestyle and Australia already has a knack for similar culture reasons. forms of export business: “Computer and information services are the fastest and largest Only half of the respondents living overseas category of ICT services exports... accounting have plans to return to Australia, primarily for almost 50% of all ICT services exports” for family and lifestyle reasons. The top (Houghton 2007). reason for not returning to Australia is the perception of inferior work opportunities, As the Open Source industry is largely focused which is a significant problem considering the on service revenue, we see a great opportunity recruitment needs of the local Open Source to grow ICT exports for Australia. The open industry. development model and collaborative nature of Open Source gives Australian companies Business development a standing start, and plethora of software to expand upon and integrate in new and The emerging trends predicted by the industry Projected Open Source growth sectors specialised ways. provide further opportunities for business development and exports. The fastest growth Additionally, export services based on Open area of services is web technologies followed Source generally contribute to export revenue by infrastructure & communications. The without raising software royalty imports, which fastest market growth sectors are property & amount to more than 40% of the ICT trade business (including ICT companies), education balance deficit (Houghton 2007). and government & defence.

Regions serviced by the Open Source industry

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 21 “I believe that perception is probably Opinion. the largest hurdle. Individuals perceive a higher learning curve, businesses Industry and community respondents were asked, “What do you feel are the major perceive higher TCO and lower support, impediments facing increased adoption of Open and government perceives open source Source in Australia?” Their answers focused on and open standards as being far less market knowledge and perception, leadership of industry and government, and Australia’s widely used than they actually are.” relatively slow adoption of new ICT solutions.

Industry Community

The industry opinions reflect that most of the concerns are around The community opinions are well considered and somewhat consistent market fear, incorrect perceptions and vendor lock-in. Beyond these with the industry perspectives. The top issue identified is the lack of perception issues, the industry is highly concerned about a lack of skills. education about Open Source in the market, and this is consistent with the number 3 issue, that of misconceptions. The industry has broadly recognised the need for better marketing. Several companies even suggested that there are no issues for Open Vendor lock-in was raised as a significant issue by both the industry and Source adoption in Australia, and that they are in the process of community, while noting that the open market created by Open Source furthering this adoption quite successfully. and open standards reduces the risk of lock-in.

1. Lack of education in the market 1. Lack of education in the market

2. Managerial fear of change 2. Vendor lock-in (answers included references to proprietary systems, contracts, tender requirements, protocols and formats, proprietary 3. Perceived lack of commercial support for Open Source in Australia drivers, mandatory pre-installed software on computers, media formats and ATO software) 4. Government/customers prefer to deal with large proprietary multi- nationals, leading to disadvantageous procurement processes such 3. Perceptions of Open Source being low quality, difficult to as mandating of a specific product configure, immature, not interoperable, unsupported, low industry professionalism, only for geeks 5. Lack of marketing and marketing budget 4. Apathy and fear of changing incumbent solution, Windows is a 6. Vendor lock-in, such as proprietary systems or formats, proprietary familiar habit, software freedom isn’t understood or valued drivers, and mandatory pre-installed software on computers 5. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) 7. Incorrect perception of Open Source being low quality, difficult to configure, immature, not interoperable 6. Lack of Open Source in education, students taught a monoculture

8. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) 7. Lack of marketing or community ability to effectively promote itself and Open Source (answers raised the lack of case studies or 9. Lack of skilled workers and Open Source in education positive info about FOSS, overzealousness in the community, not enough balanced views) 10. Lack of suitable Open Source products in specific crucial areas for adoption, such as business and personal accounting software 8. Lack of Government leadership, investment and understanding of Open Source

“I believe that encouraging educational 9. Lack of commercial support, user training, documentation and third party applications institutions to use Open Source software 10. Challenges (or perceived challenges) for migration, such as cost in the classroom, particularly when such of migration and training of staff, macros, proprietary add-ons, software has parity with proprietary integation with proprietary solutions, difficulty in using Open Source, lack of suitable Open Source products for personal applications, would have a positive accounting and tax flow‑on effect.”

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008 23 Last Word.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Pascal Klein for creating our beautiful Tango-style charts and Sarah Stokely for excellent copy editing assistance.

Many thanks to the people and organisations featured throughout the report: Bob Waldie, Andrew Tridgell, Kimberlee Weatherall, Queensland University of Technology, Rusty Russell, Gernot Heiser and Ben Leslie of Open Kernel Labs and Silvia Pfeiffer.

Finally, many thanks to our sponsors, and all of the individuals and companies who completed the surveys that informed this report!

Creative Commons Attributions

Rusty Russell by Daniel Smith Give me some sunshine by aussiegall

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This report was produced in Adobe InDesign, Inkscape and the GIMP, set in Linotype Frutiger Next and Helvetica Neue. Colours inspired by the project.

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The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report is published as a freely downloadable PDF on the Census project website and is redistributable under a cbd Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license.

That means that you can share the report, unmodified, with your employer, clients, colleagues, public representatives and anyone else who may have an interest in the Australian Open Source industry and community – and you don’t need to ask us first! Of course, you can always quote from the report, as long as you cite the source.

A printed edition of the report, pictured left, is also available for purchase individually or in special bulk orders. It includes a number of features not included in the PDF version, such as this beautiful, unmissable cover and a centrefold map of Australia’s Open Source industry and community. Please check the Waugh Partners website for ordering information.

Waugh Partners will publish ongoing analysis and reports from the census data, and further qualitiative research inspired by it. Please contact us if you have comments or suggestions.

24 Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report 2008