Coders urged to take up open source in downturn
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Free Software Foundation Europe chief Georg Greve
The recession is a good opportunity for out-of-work developers to turn their hand to open-source software, a leader of a free software group suggested on Tuesday.
In fact, all companies, programmers and other IT professionals would do well to look into free software, Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said in a speech at the CeBIT technology conference in Hanover, Germany. Predicting that the recession would probably end "sometime this year", he said the downturn would serve as a "breather" and as an opportunity for companies and individuals to rethink their software strategies.
Greve said that those who currently find themselves out of work should respond to the "fast-growing" demand for those with expertise in open-source software. "The competencies for free software are in high demand," he said. "Look how to build your competency. You could consider joining a project that lies within your field of interest. Build contacts and make a reputation for yourself — in free software, the job very often finds you."
In addition, companies should use 2009 to consider moving away from proprietary systems, Greve said. He recommended that those businesses in a position to hire staff right now could benefit from the fact that there are "more, better and cheaper people on the market". However, he also pleaded with those considering IT department redundancies to "consider reassignment rather than firing people".
"Train [your staff] to prepare for the move to free software," Greve said, citing greater interoperability, lower exit costs and flexible upgrade cycles as several reasons for doing so. "Times will pick up again."
The FSF Europe president cited the UK government's recent endorsement of open source and free software as evidence for sentiment shifting against proprietary alternatives.
Asked by ZDNet UK whether a prolonged economic crisis might be to the benefit of free software, due to companies' financial constraints, Greve said the movement did not need a recession to thrive.
"Free software has been gaining before [the crisis] and will be gaining after the crisis," Greve said, "It's not necessarily crisis-driven, although the crisis provides a good opportunity for people to reconsider [their strategies]. Frankly we see businesses that are doing well moving to free software and then doing better — it's the preferred migration path for anyone. Reconsider strategic IT now: that is the major message for the crisis."
This article was originally posted on ZDNet.co.uk.
Talkback Most Recent of 22 Talkback(s)
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Another good point: Open Source gives programmers more options. If one
employer goes under or lays you off, your knowledge of the product will get you a job at another company working in the same area. You can also strike out on your own as a consultant. Finally, you have more power in salary negotiations.
DonnieBoy3rd Mar 2009 -
When they can find work
I can promise you that there is FAR more work developing proprietary software solutions than there will ever be for developing "free" software. As a software developer I work all day creating products that generate REAL revenue. If I'm going to donate some of my spare time, I certainly would find something more productive to do than to simply do more development. It's called "Having a life" where I come from.
Tiggster3rd Mar 2009 -
And, a whole lot of "REAL" money is made using open source too. Just ask
IBM, Google, RedHat, Ebay, eTrade, Amazon, . . .
They pay top dollar for open source programmers.DonnieBoy3rd Mar 2009 -
No real money is made in your examples
eTrade's money is from the trades, not open source.
eBay's money from the auctions, not open sorce.
Amazon's money from the sales of items, not open source.
The money is made in the programing, which is paid for by the products sold, just like it would with custome Windows applications.
The difference is that this gentleman is asking for those looking for work, to instead contribute their time, for free, to work on free open source.
I am sure most programmers do not care what Operating System the are building on, they just want to get paid for their labours
GuidingLight3rd Mar 2009 -
I read the same but understood it differently
Here is what I understood:
If you don't have a job, you have time, you can use that time to get involved in a Free software application of your choosing. You can then use that skill to get a job that pays as he's making the assumption that under this crisis Free software has a betteer value proposition than proprietary software for companies.
It is no different than any other retraining plan you may have after you get laid off. This one has a very low entry level. You just need time, a computer and the willingness to learn.
I personally know people that started contributing to Free software for fun and for their own personal projects and now have consulting companies for those same applications that pay their bills.
rarsa3rd Mar 2009 -
Google and RH
Google make their money from advertising not Open Source, and Red Hat makes their money from Support Services not open source.
Sure RH "Give" open source away as long as you pay huge amounts for their lock-in support services "PER SERVER".
Open Source is a money Sink not a money source, but if you want to dregs of the programming world who are "put off" by proprietary code vendors to TRY to develop for open source good luck.
Try getting a commit account some day, if you do want to help. with the knowledge that most of what you do will never see the light of day.
Aussie_Troll3rd Mar 2009 -
Better, because of open source, Google makes a TON on advertising.
Google contributes big time to the Linux kernel and other projects.
And, without open source software to sell support for, RedHat makes nothing. RedHat also contributes big time to the Linux kernel and other projects.DonnieBoy3rd Mar 2009 -
What does advertising have to do with OSS. That code is locked down tight.
What does Googles servers that host their search and advertising services have to do with open source? They don't share any of that code, in fact that is one of the things your beloved FSF griped about with Google.
Your hero RMS believes they should have to return all of that code, but they didn't and they won't.
I don't know of any major kernel and other open source projects Google is committed to, do you have the links and so forth?
Anything they do, like Android is mostly apache licensing, not GPL. And the license on the Android SDK makes Android itself not really open source. Read the SDK terms for yourself.
If you are going to argue that Google is making it's money from open source, then it's fair to say Microsoft is making it's money from it's proprietary code and it's making a lot more of it than Google.
So I guess Windows and all other MS software is the biggest money making code, therefore the best. I mean based on your arguments here that would be true.
xuniL_z3rd Mar 2009 -
Lacking understanding!!!
Vaste amounts of money and careers are being made around Open
Source. If you doubt this, you need to do some research. MySQL was sold
for one billion dollars and although the copyright was owned by MySQL
is was primarily developed in accordance with the OS model. Thousands
of people make significant livings out of OS, myself included.
Paulinebic4th Mar 2009 -
I hope all posts were as easy to reply as yours
> Sure RH "Give" open source away ...
RH does not "Give" anything away, Free software was born free.
> as long as you pay huge amounts for their
> lock-in support services "PER SERVER".
Support is not locked in, you can get support from anyone else.
> Open Source is a money Sink not a money source
Not all software is a "product" to sell, most of it is a tool to use: e.g. sell cars, control a nuclear reaction, process claims, transfer money, publish web pages.
You sentence is like comparing car brands performance and saying, this one is red, not blue... which, may very well be characterist of the car, but has nothing to do with the argument.
> Try getting a commit account some day, ...
> most of what you do will never see the light of day.
If you implement a feature you want/like/need, and you are the only one using it, then it saw the light of day. If someone else benefits, then it's an added bonus.rarsa4th Mar 2009 -
Thanks Donnie, you explained why most businesses can't go open source...
The going rate for Linux programmers and support is far more than any company can afford. You've underscored this by explaining how in demand they are to big companies for big wages.
xuniL_z3rd Mar 2009 -
The largest corporates have already gone OS!!!
I think you are a bit behind the times. HSBC went OS and they are the
only bank still standing because it makes economic sense!!! It is now
becoming a need to go OS to stay competitive - only the luggards stay
with proprietary and they are being left behind very quickly.Paulinebic4th Mar 2009 -
I encourage you to learn about Free software
You'll see that "Free software" does not mean "work for free", but "have the freedom to do with sofware what you need".
I assure you (but you can also check the statistics) that there is more work developing in house custom applications than proprietary applications. These kind of custom developments can get a real boost from using Free software as the starting point. This is what the post talks about.
Your post makes me think that you are only considering developers that create shrink wrapped software where the software is the product.
The custom apps created generate real Revenue for the business regardless of using proprietary or Free software. They create revenue by helping processing claims, managing buildings or analyzing statistical data for oil exploration. This is, the product they get revenue from is not the software, software is just an enabler.rarsa3rd Mar 2009 -
I don't think you realize how much .net code is being written...
every day inside of businesses around the globe. Visual studio and .NET are still the preferred programming skill of choice. Done any job searching lately?
Why wouldn't it benefit these people even MORE to download the free versions of Visual Studio and start learning how to write Windows, Web, SAAS, and many other types of programming very easily? The learning curve is much less steep and the job opportunities are more.
xuniL_z3rd Mar 2009 -
Good, but keep reading
There are Open source projects based on .NET.
I wouldn't call all of them Free software as they depend on proprietary technology, but at least the result is Free software.
Some of them may be free software if they follow the standards submitted by Microsoft.
So, would you argue agains jobless people contributing to these projects as a way to learn the technology while providing some value at the same time?rarsa4th Mar 2009
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