My account of the two-day seminar. I would like to quote Nagarjuna when he summed up the panel discussion at the end of the second day:
"So far we have been wondering whether GNU/Linux is ready for the Enterprise; but now I think we should wonder whether the Enterpise is ready for GNU/Linux!"
... and before anyone else thinks of it, I am not talking about that cute saucer with engines sticking out the back that goes around our sector of the Galaxy chasing space-time anomalies and distress signals from never-before-encountered alien beings that are mysteriously understandable by human technology.
Coming back to the Conference ...
DISCLAIMER: The opinions mentioned below are based on my own observations and inferences at the Conference and the mention of any person or company does not mean that they necessarily endorse the view that I express about them.
The biggest fact that stood out at the Conference was the distinction between OSI and FSF ideologies. All the speakers at the conference were very frank in admitting that the prime reason in opting for OSS (and _not_ FLOSS) was the drastic reduction in costs, and to some extent the possibility of prevent vendor-lockin. But that's where their enthusiasm in OSS ends. Most of the people present looked at OSS from a customer's point of view, and consider the community as just another software vendor. The fact that opting for OSS meant joining a large and diverse, free-thinking community has _not_ found any ground in the corporate decision-making process.
OSS is an interesting option to them because being free (as in beer) its economical and being free (as in freedom) its robust and stable and portable and scalable and this and then that! The attitude borders on being purely parasitic, since all they are interested in is saving their money, but they have no idea about the community that is providing them with this option.
This is too big a concept to be understood by the corporate world overnight, but there have to be concrete steps (maybe by FSF-India, or the LUGS?) to make them aware of the efforts that go into making this great technology a viable option. They have to be made to realise that for the savings they make by using OSS, it might actually be useful for them to give something back to the community - that maybe hosting, or support for a few programmers, or funds for the various foundations and projects and so on. We should come out with a campaign that makes them aware of the needs of the community and the fact that their contribution can go a long way in keeping OSS alive and making further improvements and innovations possible.
All this said, the conference also reveals a very good business opportunity for most experts in GNU/Linux and related stuff - and that is the service industry. During the panel discussion, people admitted that they understand the viability and financial significance of changing over to OSS. But they were afraid to "take the plunge", since they were not sure who would help them out. Some people expressed the need for agencies/companies that can take up the job of providing support for the migration process and maintenance thereafter.
The guy from IBM made an all-out pitch for their Linux-based services, the TCS guy made a guarded attempt at saying that even they seriously consider Linux when serving a customer. The RedHat guy had convincing slides on a preconceived process of migration and support. But there's ample room for more people to jump in. All we need is Linux users growing a good halo of credibility for themselves and setting up support companies - the market is surely there for the taking.
Another thing that needs to be conveyed articulately is the option for these companies to hire people from the Linux user community - in-house experts that can deal with situations and provide a good interface to the FLOSS community as a whole.
Sameer.