Issue 4 Summer 008
Open Source:
Software as a commodity
by John McCreesh
Some of the biggest names in IT have embraced community developed
“open source” software, the free software that powers much of the internet.
Could it be the answer corporate IT is looking for?
IT DOESN’T MATTER the UK public sector billions of pounds
2
. Within this
Five years ago this month, CIOs around the world were approach, what could be more attractive than the offer
feeling particularly unloved, as their colleagues on the of free software?
board gleefully waved a copy of the Harvard Business
Review under their noses. An article by Nicholas Carr THE EMERGENCE OF FREE/OPEN SOURCE
with the provocative title “IT Doesn’t Matter”
1
posed SOFTWARE
some uncomfortable questions about the real business During the 1980s, software developers had become
benefits of expenditure on IT. increasingly frustrated by the poor quality of the software
tools they were using themselves. With the growth of
Carr argued that IT systems are now all-pervasive in the internet, groups of developers began to work in their
business: every corporation has a web site; all the basic spare time to produce their own freely-shared or “open
business processes are computerised; every employee source” alternatives. Any competent developer was
has email, internet access, office software etc. In Carr’s encouraged to inspect the programs (or “source code”),
words, IT systems: “...are becoming costs of doing fix bugs, or add features. Within hours, new versions
business that must be paid by all, but provide distinction could be distributed worldwide via the internet and be in
to none.” use by hundreds of their peers. Every program change
was open to scrutiny, discussion, and improvement by
Carr admits some companies may gain a temporary the community via the internet. Contributors gained
competitive advantage from a specialised IT system, but praise and endorsement from their peers.
IT is so easy to copy that this will not last. In economists’
terms, IT is now a commodity. Just like buying office This “open source” software development process
supplies, buyers should go into the open market and proved itself capable of producing high-quality
buy IT where it’s cheapest. According to John Suffolk, programs quickly and cheaply. Bodies such as the Free
UK Government CIO, adopting this principle could save Software Foundation (founded in 1985) and the Open
 | Perspectives on technology
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