Open Source and Education: Examples and Business Models James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology & Director, Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) Presentation for Open Source Conference 27 th July, 2005, Amman, Jordan

Overview Background to Open Source Software (OSS) and Education Examples of OSS in Education Training for OSS Case Study: LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) Business Models for OSS –First/Second generation & alternative approaches –Lessons from LAMS business model –Reflections for Jordan IT industry considering OSS

Background Open source software or “free software” (free as in freedom) has its origins deeply rooted in education –Key role of universities and researchers in the earliest developments in software and the internet (MIT, Berkeley) –More recently, both Linux and Apache (and many other projects) and OSS licenses have university/research origins Today, some areas of education are open source, others are mostly closed, and others are changing –Mainly open: Research software (eg Grid), various infrastructure –Mainly closed: Finance/HR, Student Information, Desktops –Changing: Learning Management Systems (LMS), Browsers

Background Despite the recent success of open source in commercial contexts, the education sector has been central to OSS since the beginning But… this doesn’t mean education as a sector has used only open source – far from it –Very mixed within the sector, depending on type of systems –Significant recent flux, eg LMS Will open source grow in education? Likely… –Alignment with the values of the education sector –Open source development like scientific progress

Examples of OSS in Education Desktop –Limited operating system and office productivity adoption (but growing number of trials) –Growing browser adoption since Firefox release –Limited collaboration ( , calendar, etc) –Various niche applications (eg, encryption)

Examples of OSS in Education Infrastructure –Apache web server dominant –Linux operating system widely adopted –MySQL and Postgres becoming common databases for small-medium scale use –Tomcat, JBoss, Zope and other similar systems becoming common for application platforms –Perl/PHP/Python programming languages –Various open source utilities common (Eclipse IDE, Squid proxy cache, CAS/Libproxy/etc for single sign on, OpenLDAP for directory, Federated Identity and Access using Shibboleth, etc)

Examples of OSS in Education Core education applications –Learning Management Systems: Moodle, Sakai,.LRN, ATutor, etc –Portal: uPortal –Content Management Systems: Plone, LON-CAPA –Community systems: OpenACS/.LRN, Drupal –Content authoring: Reload, eXe –Repositories: DSpace, Fedora –Learning Design: LAMS*, Coppercore –Others: Blogs, Wikis, etc

Examples of OSS in Education Summary: Desktop – limited OSS impact, some trials Infrastructure – significant OSS adoption, dominant in some areas OSS Educational applications – mixed –Limited in some areas (Finance/HR, Student Information Systems, Library) –Changing in other areas (LMS, CMS, Portal) –Already dominant in some (Repositories, Learning Design)

Training for OSS Apart from education sector use of OSS, training in using/developing OSS is growing Technical training and certification examples –O’Reilly books and manuals for OSS –Red Hat certifications –68 courses at Training for teachers/lecturers in use of OSS educational software –MoodleMoot, Sakai, JA-SIG, Unfold conferences –LAMS training

Case Study: LAMS LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is a new generation of e-learning software Based on the evolving field of “Learning Design” LAMS helps teachers/lecturers to create and run “digital lesson plans” –Sequences of content and collaborative activities LAMS sequences can be shared and improved –LAMS Community and “open source teaching” Originally developed as commercial software, shifted to an open source business model

Case Study: LAMS Why was open source a good decision for LAMS? –Encourage rapid widespread adoption of the Learning Design approach –Foster open source development of new activity tools (as well as extend the core platform) –Combines open source and open content approaches –LAMS as open source helps inform future open standards development for Learning Design –Non-profit foundation: Commercial services: Software/resources:

Open source business models “First generation” open source models –Installation services –Technical support (ad hoc, one-off) –Integration –Custom development –Training, etc Appropriate if… –You have technical expertise in a specific area NB: Don’t have to own or be a lead developer for OSS –You have business expertise to ensure sustainable margins and quality service delivery

Open source business models “Second generation” open source models –“Dual licensing” for GPL systems you created –Packaged technical support (repeatable, scalable) –Unique offerings: Training accreditation (eg, Red Hat certification) Certified platform (eg, Spikesource, Red Hat, SuSE) Appropriate if… –You created and own a specialised OSS product or service that is being rapidly adopted –You have business expertise to maintain leadership and rapidly grow open source business offerings Two key articles on OSS business models: –7 Open Source Business Strategies: /management/04/05/10/ shtml –Second generation OSS:

Open source business models Alternative open source models are not about making money directly from open source software itself, but using OSS for business advantage –Using OSS as components in non-OSS software NB: Review license issues if you distribute your software - BSD/LGPL usually okay; GPL – seek dual license (eg, MySQL) 2 models: Build on OSS from others; or open part of your system –Using OSS for non-software businesses (Amazon, Google) Key article by Tim O’Reilly (CEO, O’Reilly Publishing) – Generally involves using OSS for areas of your business (software or non-software) that are not central to your unique selling proposition (USP)

Lessons from OSS LAMS Need significant energy and/or funding to get initial OSS product to a stage that it creates interest –Only working software counts, not just good ideas! Important to leverage all available first and second generation OSS business model opportunities –Margins on services can help offset development costs Going open source (for software you develop) is great for word of mouth marketing and encouraging trials –Saves on software sales/marketing costs Recent analysis suggests 76% of new enterprise software license costs are for sales/marketing – old model broken anyway! –Easier market penetration from a distance (Australia, Jordan?)

Reflections for Jordan IT Open source provides new strategies for entering the global software/IT services market If you target existing OSS areas: –Seek a reputation for strong tech skills and delivering what you promise –Become a sub-contractors to larger OSS partners for overseas connections (eg, IBM, Novell, Red Hat, etc) If you build new OSS software: –Need to achieve “buzz” from a working system that fills a current gap that matters to IT managers –Exploit all first and second generation opportunities –Consider larger partners & “franchising” opportunities