Open 2020 Taking Advantage of FOSS Andrew Tridgell Samba Team

Why Open Matters Flexibility is the key The IT industry is simultaneously the industry most capable of being open, and most susceptible to being closed Corporate Choice If given the opportunity companies will choose proprietary solutions, as proprietary solutions enable monopolies, and monopolies lead to easy profits Direction of society The benefits of open computing to society as a whole are obvious The challenge is to find ways to encourage the elements of that society to make the open choice

FOSS is Established Free software is here to stay Already a major force in embedded computing An increasingly significant player in computing infrastructure Still small in desktop computing, but growing

The future of FOSS Free software is here to stay Already a major force in many markets An increasingly significant player in computing infrastructure Still small in mainstream desktop use, but growing The question now for Australia isn't whether free software will be a success, it is how to ensure that Australian society can maximally benefit from the changes that free software brings

Benefitting from free software To gain maximum benefit we must Eliminate structural impediments to the use of free software Reduce the ability of companies to use anti-competitive means against free software Maximise the portability of information between vendors

What needs to be done? Government role is key Governments must strive to maximise the benefit to society of the increasing use of free software in the IT industry Proprietary companies are likely to become increasingly desperate in their attempts to hold back the tides of change Australian governments should lead by example, by following best practices in interfacing with society, using open document formats and software that can be used on all platforms Australian governments should ensure that taxpayer funded software development should result in open software

Immediate Concerns Patent reform Software patents are still a major threat to the IT industry, and free software in particular Copyright reform Years of poor copyright legislation have left us with a huge mess. We need a serious cleanup effort. Use of FOSS in schools We need to enable the use of FOSS throughout the school system Open document formats Governments need to wholeheartedly embrace open document formats and open interfaces