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Free and Open Source Software Overview and Preliminary Guidelines for the Government of Canada
Executive Summary
Free and Open Source Software Evolution During the past two decades, the software market has been dominated by Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products such as MS Windows and Oracle database management systems that offer a myriad of functionalities at a reasonable price. However, the intrinsic limitations of COTS software (e.g. closed source code, lock-in effect, expensive upgrades, security weaknesses etc.) have emerged over time. This led to the development of a parallel ‘economy’ based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). FOSS refers to programs whose source code is made available for use and modification without the expensive license fees imposed by COTS software editors. FOSS is developed either by volunteers or through development sponsored by large computer firms who want to include ‘commodity’ software to give a competitive advantage to their hardware products. Over the past ten years, the FOSS phenomenon has been constantly growing in importance: thousands of FOSS projects carried out via Internet collaboration; hundreds of high-quality applications available for use or modification at no (or small) cost and tens of FOSS products now widely considered to be as mature and secure as their COTS equivalents.
The good reputation of free and open source software has attracted the attention of many governments around the world and they are now considering the systematic migration of their servers and their workstations to FOSS. The leading countries, currently migrating to FOSS, are the United Kingdom, Germany and France but it is estimated that more than 20 other countries are preparing policies and action plans to adopt FOSS systematically in their government and industrial systems. The strategic rationale for migrating to FOSS is typically related to three main factors: 1) the expectation of direct cost savings, 2) the reduction of economic loss at the national level caused by commercial software imports and 3) the hope to better develop national IT expertise by means of access to source code (and development of original components) which is not really possible with COTS packages.
Canada appears to be behind the curve in FOSS adoption. The lack of clear business cases and the underestimation of the strategic value of FOSS partly explain this situation. However the Government of Canada (GoC) has recently endorsed a pro-active position on FOSS to ensure that GoC staff are aware of the options available and that no barriers to procurement remain. Some comprehensive open source initiatives can be found in the education and health sectors and an increased awareness is now being expressed by the GoC, who see FOSS as a viable alternative to COTS software and expensive custom code development.
Proposed Way-Ahead for GoC FOSS is not a panacea, but it does offer a concrete and credible technological opportunity. GoC could benefit from an improved diversity in software supplies (custom code vs. FOSS vs. COTS), augmented security by source code auditing (and enhancement) and higher compliance with open standards and specifications that contribute to system interoperability.
Specific actions are proposed to increase awareness/use in GoC such as: to promote FOSS by means of publications, workshops and conferences; to consider FOSS-based solutions in contractual work when they are technically competitive with other development strategies; to support GoC departments in assessing this emerging technology. This report also includes various navigation aids to help identify suitable FOSS products, a comparison spreadsheet that facilitates side-by-side comparisons of FOSS and COTS software and some practical guidelines to help project leaders to determine the suitability of FOSS in their specific project contexts.
