Open source not fully exploited in UK ... NCC. (IT News).A major report published by the National Computing Centre The National Computing Centre (NCC) is a membership and research company in the UK founded on 10 June 1966 by the UK Government in order to encourage the growth of computer usage in the UK and ensure that the necessary education and training was made available. (NCC NCC See National Clearing Corporation (NCC). ). "Open Source - The UK Opportunity" provides an authoritative and independent overview of the issues surrounding sur·round tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds 1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle. 2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication. n. Open Source software, and its take up by UK organisations. It details the views expressed by IT professionals on the future of, and opportunities offered by Open Source technologies, and draws conclusions on the actions necessary to convert potential business benefits into reality. Dr. Andrew Hopkirk Hopkirk may refer to:
n. 1. A small part broken off or detached. 2. An incomplete or isolated portion; a bit: overheard fragments of their conversation; extant fragments of an old manuscript. 3. picture, yet there is clearly great potential for cost savings and increased efficiency. Key findings are: On usage: Current use of Open Source is uneven. In areas such as operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. , Open Source products compare very favourably with proprietary infrastructure products. However this is currently not the case further up the application "food chain" towards office desktop and business systems. The take-up of desktop systems by software consumers has been significantly boosted by active interest in Open Source by strong brands like HP, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Sun and newer vendors like RedHat and SUSE, but this is confined con·fine v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines v.tr. 1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. to applications built on the GNU/Linux operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. . There is a need for wider, more co-ordinated developer effort. On benefits: Interest in Open Source has increased in the light of rising licence costs of proprietary software. Advocates of Open Source argue that the technical freedom and non-proprietary nature of Open Source software will result in better quality, higher reliability, lower costs and increased choice. Transparency (1) The quality of being able to see through a material. The terms transparency and translucency are often used synonymously; however, transparent would technically mean "seeing through clear glass," while translucent would mean "seeing through frosted glass." See alpha blending. of development and the potential to generate stable IT products makes Open Source attractive, particularly to Best Value assessments in the public sector. By contrast, some organisations will choose to remain with proprietary solutions, because of perceptions of relative ownership costs and the marketing power of package vendors. However, establishing accurate total cost of ownership benchmarks is complex. The IT professionals interviewed for the report advocated a greater understanding of cost benefits, some having adopted Open Source and experienced resultant This article is about the resultant of polynomials. For the result of adding two or more vectors, see Parallelogram rule. For the technique in organ building, see Resultant (organ). In mathematics, the resultant of two monic polynomials cost savings. On support: It is difficult for users to assess the quality and suitability of Open Source products, due to the widely collaborative way in which they are developed. Independent advice and guidance on professional management, operational exploitation, and end-user solutions is not easy to locate and software consumers have to trust the suppliers. The sample of IT professionals interviewed felt that if there is to be widespread uptake uptake /up·take/ (up´tak) absorption and incorporation of a substance by living tissue. up·take n. of open methods and open software, there is an urgent requirement for co-ordinated promotional activity and consumer support from an independent authoritative body. What are software consumers' concerns about Open Source? NCC interviewed 30 IT professionals who were representative of a cross section of public and private organisations, some of whom had already adopted Open Source solutions. This group identified their prime concerns as: uncertainty over what Open Source is uncertainty over support and what the liabilities might be lack of clear marketing positioning for Open Source products, and above all difficulties in identifying the right Open Source products for a given requirement. Report recommendations. NCC has identified recommendations that address Open Source market issues and associated concerns. These include: * Availability of independent support and guidance to advise the professional IT user community on the availability and suitability of open Source products * The establishment of a National Library of Open Source software and compliance tests, to independently evaluate Open Source products for reliability and interoperability The capability of two or more hardware devices or two or more software routines to work harmoniously together. For example, in an Ethernet network, display adapters, hubs, switches and routers from different vendors must conform to the Ethernet standard and interoperate with each other. * The creation of standards to promote excellence in Open Source software development, distribution, and operational implementation * A national focus for the promotion of Open Technologies and Standards - including improved marketing through the support of pilot projects, the generation of case study material and the establishment of a clear cost of ownership model for Open Source software * The setting up of an independent convenor of Open Source initiatives to co-ordinate and leverage market opportunities for UK organisations Michael Gough, Chief Executive of NCC said, "The UK would benefit greatly from the establishment of a stable alternative to the use of proprietary software, both in terms of business innovation and competitiveness, and in support of the UK software industry. As the UK's foremost independent research-based membership organisation for users of IT, NCC is ideally placed to work with users and government to convert the potential offered by Open Source to reality." www.ncc.com |
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