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Re: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in I CT

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  • Subject: Re: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in I CT
  • From: Dekkers Martijn at OPM
  • Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:23:51 +0200

Hi Jennifer, 
 
A scenario/theme for ICT in Malta: 
 
* Malta as an Open Source Centre of Excellence: 
 
 -Introduction & Background 
 
Open Source Software is a form of software development where 
the developer(s) freely share the source code of their 
software. This practice initially seems counterintuitive - 
Giving away the source code of your software is like giving 
away the secrets of how your product works - giving all your 
competitors immediate access to your work. 
 
However, closer examination of the community of Open Source 
developers, the business models of organisations that develop 
and support open source software as well as the significant 
interest and commitment of major player in the global ICT 
field (IBM invested to the tune of $1 billion in Open source 
Software, Sun Microsystems made available the sourcecode to 
StarOffice - at a cost of roughly $30 million, to name but a 
few) reveals that Open Source software simply makes business 
sense. Some well-known examples of software produced by the 
Open Source community are the GNU/Linux operating system, the 
OpenOffice.org office suite (full replacement of Microsoft 
Office - free of charge), the Apache webserver (in use by 
over 60% of the worlds' websites - even eforesee.info 
runs on Linux and Apache) and many others. 
 
The true revolution in terms of software development is the 
shift of the software development paradigm from a 
manufacturing-based industry to a services-based industry. 
This is significant, since the software development process 
is one where the base material for the manufacturing of 
product are thoughts, ideas, concepts, and other 
"intangibles". These base materials make an uncomfortable fit 
at best with the traditional manufacturing paradigm. 
 
However, these same base materials make a very good fit with 
the services industry, as does indeed that whole concepts 
behind the need and values underpinning the ICT field. So the 
shift of software development from a manufacturing paradigm 
to a services-based paradigm is not so much of a revolution 
as it is a natural gravitiation to the place it belongs. 
 
Our website offers more information on Open Source Software: 
http://cimu.gov.mt/architecture/index.shtml 
 
 - Malta and Open Source Software 
 
Malta, as well as other small nations, have a unique 
opportunity with Open Source software, and the widening 
acceptance of Open Source software and the Open source 
Development model as a mainstream force in modern ICT. 
 
Open Source software has an almost zero barrier to entry for 
organisation, due to the following reasons: 
 
 * inherent accessibillity to the full creation process, the 
direct contact with the individuals that wrote the 
sourcecode, and the overall mentality of free sharing of 
information. 
 
 * The only tools required to participate in the community 
are a healthy attitude, a PC (costly OS not required - one 
can opt to use Linux - there are many user friendly 
distributions available), and an Internet connection. 
 
 * Information about the many aspects of opensource software 
and the community that supports it is readily available all 
over the Internet - free of charge. 
 
Any person or organisation with the predispostion and tools 
can for part of this community, learn from it, and 
subsequently assist organisations in the use and 
implementation of Open Source software - low investment = low 
barrier to entry. This in contrast to providing similar 
services for "established" products. 
 
An example case in point would be an organisation that wishes 
to provide professional services, support, and advice on 
Office Suites to organisations. 
 
 * An organisation that wishes to provide advise and support 
services for Microsoft Office would require a hefty up-front 
investment. Entry into Microsoft's partner programs is not 
cheap. One requires a minimum of 3 staff members to be MCSE 
certified - a proprietary training course that is costly, and 
only teaches the participant to use Microsoft products, and 
teaches little about the general design, operation and 
maintenance of ICT tools in general. The only true net 
beneficiary of the MCSE (and related schemes) is Microsoft. 
Only then can an organisation gain access to the tools and 
information required to deliver professional, high quality 
support and advise on Office suite implementation. Moreover, 
smaller business are actively discriminated against through 
the partner level scheme - the requirements for entry listed 
here are for a minimal level of access to tools and 
resources. Larger organisations (with more MCSE's and higher 
budgets) can buy their way into higher levels of 
"partnership" with Microsoft, and thus gain access to better 
tools and resources, allowing them to operate more 
effectively and efficiently then the small market-entrant. 
 
 * On the other hand, one may opt to deliver the same 
services for supporting OpenOffice.org - a fully featured, 
OpenSource replacement for Microsoft Office that delivers 
full file compatibillity with MS Office and works in a 
similar way and offers similar features. An organisation 
would not need enroll staff in an expensive course, would not 
require special "partnering programs" and would not be 
discriminated against in favour of larger organisations, and 
would still have access to all the tools and information that 
one would receive in a high-level partner program from a 
closed-sourced operator. The benefits, however, extend beyond 
what any closed-sourced operator can offer due to the 
inherently restrictive nature of their business and 
manufacturing model. Due to the availibillity of source code, 
one can translate OpenOffice.org to sport a user interface in 
the users native language - for example, work is currently 
underway to provide a Maltese version of OpenOffice.org - 
spellcheck, user interface and all. This matches nicely with 
Linux - already the Linux user interface is available in 
Maltese. Closed source businesses will never provide a user 
interface - a market of 200.000 units is simply to small to 
fit in their business models. Open Source has another 
advantage here. 
 
This is just a small example of how opensource and micro 
economies work well together - there are many, many more. 
 
 -Malta as a centre of excellence for Open Source software 
 
 Due to the ready access to all levels of information 
regarding the open source global body of code, information, 
best practices coupled with the extremely low economic 
barrier to entry into the particular market, Malta is in a 
better position to become a centre of excellence for 
providing services around Open Source software. The EU is 
moving towards Open Source software, as are major commercial 
organisations. 
 
These are just some very high-level conclusions that we are 
drawing from ongoing research we have been performing for the 
past 10 months on Open Source. 
 
The Univeristy of Maastricht recently published the FLOSS 
report that gives more background on various economic aspects 
of Open Source Software. 
 
http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/ 
 
I welcome the opportunity to discuss this subject further. 
 
Kind regards, 
 
Martijn Dekkers 
Chief Enterprise Information Architect 
 
ICT Governance Department, 
Central Information Management Unit, 
Office of the Prime Minister, 
Gattard House 
National Road 
Blata l-Bajda HMR02 
Malta 
 
Tel : +356 25992369 
Fax : +356 234707 
 
http://cimu.gov.mt 
 
*-*-*-*-*-*- 
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CIMU or the Government of Malta unless explicitly stated. 
 
 
--- 
> Dear Colleagues, We would like to initiate an on-line 
> discussion on alternative futures for Malta in ICT. We 
> would like you to send us up to ten different scenario 
> themes for Malta in ICT. These can be scenario themes 
> focused on: 
> 
> * specific niche areas (e.g. Malta as an e-learning hub) 
> * or ICT-enabled initiatives (e.g. on-line gambling) 
> * or telecomms-related initiatives 
> * or any other ideas in general !! 
> 
> Ideally, this exercise should not involve too much time - 
> maximum 30 minutes - just jot down what comes immediately 
> to mind. So send us your feedback if possible by Thursday 
> 22 August. Looking forward to hearing from you, Jennifer 
> 
> ___________ 
> Dr. Jennifer Cassingena Harper 
> Head, Policy Unit, 
> Malta Council for Science and Technology 
> Villa Bighi, Bighi, Kalkara CSP 11, Malta 
> email: [email protected] http://www.mcst.org.mt 
> direct dial-in: +356 23602125 
> tel. +356 21 660340 (fax) +356 21 660341 
> ___________ 
 
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