Josef Assad

I monitor media pretty extensively for open source news, and I remember when this article came out in November actually! A party I work with has - with all good intentions and in the interest of fostering debate - called it out as noteworthy, which has given me a chance to rebut some of the FUD and misconceptions in that article around open source. Time has been a constraint as I have had to provide rapid turnaround, but this should do for a quick rebuttal.

Searching BBC news (always elegant to use the same source for counter argument) for mention of "open source", restricting the search to the news section (I hope we're not missing any news about open source in sport!), and sorting by relevance yields 25 pages of results at ten hits per page.

Now, let us look at the first 3 pages (or 30 results) to find how many pro and anti open source articles there are:

PRO open source: 19
NEUtral: 11
ANTI open source: 0

(for details, see appendix A below)

It is nice to see the opposing point of view, but I am afraid the charity discussed in this article is a little misguided. Some salient points:

• Technology support is not a cost proposition, it is a value proposition. If it was a cost proposition, I could charge one cent per year of support for each individual in MENA and just not answer the phone. The quality of support with non open source is always lower by definition; if the support partner does not have the source, there is only so much they can do.
• Open source support for mature systems is always cheaper still. Source code access enables anyone to provide support, creating a free market around the service. A good example is Oracle picking up Red Hat's system and going head to head instead of relying on Red Hat's support system. You cannot do this with XP, obviously. A good example of the opposite scenario is Microsoft server systems; if there is a bug in the database server, either Microsoft fixes it or no one will. The US recently implemented DST, and Microsoft charged USD 4,000 to each customer for the system fix to implement this.
• With all respect due Christian Aid, Oxfam are far bigger and are committed to open source. So are countless other charities. A friend handling technology at an UK charity knows Mr. Buckley; "odd fellow" are his words (ad hominem? Never!).

APPENDIX A: Search results for open source on bbc.co.uk:

SLANT #. ARTICLE TITLE
RATIONALE

PRO 1. News - Tories want open source Whitehall
note article title
PRO 2. News - Open source gets European boost
note article title
PRO 3. News - Microsoft 'not competing' with open source
Discussing how MS is acknowledging open source
PRO 4. News - Do Firefox browser bugs matter?
Discussing superiority of open source QA
NEU 5. News - Open source leaders slam patents
Discussing legislative issues
PRO 6. News - From code war to Cold War
Discussing ideological advantages
NEU 7. News - Software patents 'threaten Linux'
Discussing legislative issues
PRO 8. News - UK tests open source waters
Government buy-in (UK a bit late to the bandwagon)
PRO 9. News - Linux battle becomes political
MS moves to counter overwhelming govt. adoption of open source
PRO 10. News - Linux steps into the limelight
Discussing rapid adoption of open source poster child
PRO 11. News - IBM signs Linux deal with Germany
More open source adoption
PRO 12. News - 'Jambo' to open source software
How open source is more locally appropriate
PRO 13. News - Opening up challenges to Microsoft
MS difficulties competing with opensource
NEU 14. News - Space tourist promotes open source
Positive, but biased. Relegated to neutral.
PRO 15. News - Life looks good for Linux
note article title
NEU 16. News - Google helps terabyte data swaps
Google on the open source wagon also. But neutral for the sake of argument.
NEU 17. News - Tech guru O'Reilly mashes it up
Strong pro, but interviewee is biased. Excellent reference read though
NEU 18. News - 'Free' Danish beer makes a splash
Open source beer. Tasty but irrelevant.
PRO 19. News - Sun 'releases' Java to the world
Sun Microsystems making historical investment in open source
PRO 20. News - UN backs drive for free software
Note article title
NEU 21. News - How badly hurt is Microsoft?
Marked neutral out of pity.
NEU 22. News - What is it with Wikipedia?
Pros and cons of open source encyclopedia
NEU 23. News - Q&A: Microsoft source code leaked
Marked neutral. Not really relevant.
PRO 24. News - How schools can get free software
UK govt. promoting open source.
PRO 25. News - Here comes the creator economy
"Open source reaches a take-off stage, even MS acknowledges its vitality"
PRO 26. News - Free software to aid poor doctors
Note article title
PRO 27. News - Browser war veteran comes of age
Open source success story
NEU 28. News - Microsoft to reveal source code
Marked neutral though it is about MS trying to cope with open source cometition
PRO 29. News - Radio goes the open source route
Note article title
NEU 30. News - Websites alienate Firefox users
Scolding bad web developers for not working better with open source browser