6.1 Barriers to the adoption of open source: personal and professional  (Page 3/13)

This approach to IT governance is based on how open source tools have traditionally been deployed within the campus’ computing environment, and could be called the “stack approach.” This is based on the growth open source software has seen within the campus data center, “low in the software stack,” focused on operating systems, server software, development tools, databases, etc. As campuses become more familiar and comfortable with (dependent on?) OSS in these utilities, presumably, the door will open for systems such as email, content/learning management, business and finance, even fuel management systems: those services deemed mission critical by campus decision makers as “enterprise applications.”

And in fact, OSS has enjoyed significant adoption on campuses within the data center, the paradox is, few know it… especially those within the campus’ administration. As an academic CIO, I cannot recall many conversations I have had with my peers (other CIO’s, CTO’s, Directors of IT) or colleagues (Provosts, Deans, Administrative Directors) regarding utilities running low on the software stack such as server operating systems (Linux, Unix, Windows) web servers (Apache, IIS, iPlanet, SunOne, Zues, etc.), application servers (BEA, OAS, Tomcat, etc.), mail servers (Exchange, Postfix, SendMail, SquirrelMail, etc.), programming languages (Java, .NET, Perl, PHP, etc.) or, Integrated Development Environments (Eclipse, JDeveloper, WebShere, etc.). These are considered operational by my peers and insignificant by my colleagues. Interestingly, I have had countless debates regarding; desktop operating systems (Linux flavors, Macs and Windows), email clients (Domino Mail, Eudora, Outlook, etc.), Learning Management Systems (Angel, Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai, WebCT, etc.), Student Information Systems (Banner, Datatel, Kuali, PeopleSoft, etc.) and other “ERP” systems with, not my peers, but with my colleagues. CIO’s see these applications—and the decision to use them—within the realm of the campus departments, and so do the Provosts, Deans, Directors of HR, Finance, Enrollment, Alumni, etc. The now tired arguments that may have prompted technology folks to investigate open source—code quality, security, integration, customization, support, etc.—simply may not be applicable, important or even understood by those in other campus business units assessing their software needs against specific business operations, because these tools (and the values of OSS) operate behind the scenery. I would imagine that those reading this, care more about the content and discussion that may result within the forum, than the fact that it is presented with WordPress hosted on AIX and delivered via Apache.

In 2006 I presented findings on the deployment, and the opinions of administrators, of OSS within The State University of New York’s 64 campuses. The statistics, provided by Netcraft , identified which operating systems and server software where deployed on the SUNY campuses’ publicly accessible servers including email, ftp, media, web and others: all of which could be considered “low on the software stack.” The results indicated that while SUNY deployments of OSS was generally lower than global deployments (again provided by Netcraft), it was growing within the campuses’ data centers. For example, specifically to web server software, global deployment of Apache peaked at 70% with SUNY at 63% in 2005. SUNY also saw steady growth in Linux distributions running on various server types, rising from 7% in 2000 to 27% in 2006. However, these “adoption rates” measured applications transparent to end-users: web-server software and the operating systems they ride on. How many of the folks governing online education and debating Moodle are also debating the LAMP stack?