'Not too late to start'

Possibilities of Open Source Software:

By Sajitha PREMATUNGE

If you have just bought a computer you would know exactly what I mean. You have to survive on a software trial version for a month and then either choose to become an accomplice to software piracy or be virtuous and take the 'road not taken' - go for open source software. But if you are a lay person like me and your knowledge of software, let alone open source, is zilch, you would probably choose the former.

But with the heightened awareness of software piracy and attention on 'intellectual property rights', and our inability to spend thousands of rupees on software we were not used to paying for before, in a few years most of our computers may be running on open source software.

"According to Intellectual Property Act, duplicating any form of intellectual property is illegal since year 2000." said D.M. Karunaratne, Director General, National Intellectual Property Office. Consequently, although, theoretically, it was banned by law since year 2000, we have all somehow managed to getaway with depending on pirated software! But now the tables have turned and commercial software companies have increased their vigilance on protecting their property. "To operate a computer you need both the operating system and other compatible software." says Dr. Saman Fernando, Manager Technology Watch Centre, National Science Foundation.

Having an operating system without the corresponding software makes no sense. "It' s like a car without petrol. And you can't operate the software without the operating system, the computer language - the car." He further explained that all government offices have been computerized by now and installing licensed software in all of them would cost the government millions.

Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe, Director, School of Computing, University of Colombo says that open source software is forced to adhere to open standards. Exchanging information, duplicating, downloading open source software is free. "This makes economic sense when every license costs." But most people are still oblivious to the advantages of open source software and unfortunately the monopoly is still with commercial software. Another reason we find exploring other possibilities so difficult, is that all Sri Lankan 'computer education' programmes - from school level onwards - focuses on one single brand. "It's like teaching people to drive Toyota cars, when they should have been taught how to drive cars." says Dr. Fernando. He suggested that 'computer education' should be based on generic products. Moreover he believes that 'planned obsolesce' - upgrading software every few years, thereby making the former obsolete - is a marketing trick. "We are forced to obtain - under the new conditions buy - the new version or we would be isolated from the rest of the world."

"There are two types of open source software." says Harsha Wijayawardhana, Head of Software development Unit, School of Computing, University of Colombo. "Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Open Source Software." He explained that free and open source software is software that can be obtained with the source code. "You have the 'freedom' to do anything you want with it, and pass it on." He explained that when it came to open source software he always considers the community involved. The larger the community the better the software. "There are thousands of open source projects out there, with thousands of people working on software development. Numbers that even Microsoft can't pull off." He explained that opposed to the popularly held belief open source software are now much more user friendly.

For the public Harsha Wijayawardhana highly recommends open source software. "Open Office for example is very user friendly and I personally find it more appealing than its commercial counterpart." But he explained that some purposes - for example graphics - propriety software should be used. He explained that propriety based software should not be totally discarded while being open source oriented. "The user should decide on the software. Specialized applications need case by case scenario evaluation. But for the public I definitely recommend open source software."

Dr. Asoka Karunananda, Head of Computational Mathematics, University of Moratuwa pointed out that although we have failed to notice we have been using open source software for a long time without our knowledge. "It's in the mobiles we use every day and the internet." He believes that although open source software is not as user friendly at a glance as commercial software, it is still a good substitute. Apart from the fact that it is completely free there are no compatibility issues. Open source software can be used in open source operating systems such as Linux as well as commercial operating systems such as Windows. "There is a counterpart open source for every type of commercially used software." In fact programming open source software to transfer data to commercial software is much easier than vice versa. "As a matter of fact a whole new business has emerged on developing converting programmes."

But as Dr. Fernando said we have learned only to drive Toyotas. Is going open source, like starting from scratch? Experts don't think so. Dr. Fernando says "We learned how to use commercial software. We can simply unlearn and learn to use open source software again." In fact Dr. Karunananda believes that open source software is the best option to inculcate programming skills in people. Open source software are not focused on applications development, but developing the right environment for applications development.

Dr. Weersinghe, said that open source software is based on the model that the user knows best. "Commercial software doesn't allow programming. You don't see what's happening inside. But in open source you can customise it and develop software of your own." said Dr. Karunananda. Dr. Weerasinghe explained that the 'programme source code' of open source software is also made available - unlike in commercial software like windows, thereby making it possible for the user to program his/her own software. "Moreover open source software comes in an international form. You can programme it to accommodate any language, even Sinhala and Tamil." But this last bit of information would probably send most of you, who have not heard this already, running to your search engines. Computers running on open source software are less susceptible to virus attacks!

Dr. Karunananda believes that Sri Lanka has gone in the wrong direction, concerning information technology. "Instead of relying on foreign software we should have developed software of our own. The Netherlands is already doing it. I personally believe that we are not too late to start." Moreover he explained that open source software is so freely available that many research facilities and universities tend to use open source software. "New trends in computing has much potential in open source and programming achievements, in the future, will be based on open source software." In layman language the newest of inventions will run on open source software.

Harsha Wijayawardhana explained that in order to expand horizons of open source possibilities in Sri Lanka, expertise and the support of the international open source community is necessary. "We have both the support of the international open source community and the expertise. We have very high quality programmers. In fact they are way ahead of Indian programmers. However although software development on open source exists they are concentrated in small groups. We need to popularize software development" He explained that more propaganda activities are necessary to make the public aware of the possibilities of open source software.