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Results: Value for money - Part 7

Open source software

Open source software is generally licensed to allow free or very low cost access to the source code of the application, and free usage. Popular products usually have an active user/developer community that provides support and collectively improves the product. In many cases, support can also be purchased from commercial organisations.

Government organisations can potentially make significant savings on licence costs if their requirements can be met by open source products and have been encouraged32 to assess open source software alternatives alongside commercial software when choosing software solutions.

Fifty-seven percent of organisations that responded to this survey reported that they had a policy of considering open source software and 8 percent had a policy of preferring it. A further 8 percent however, had a policy of not using it at all.

Figure 11

Graph showing Government open source software policy (30 June 2008)

Government open source software policy (30 June 2008)

Table 15

Open source policy by organisation type and size (30 June 2008)
Total number of responding organisations Open source policy
no policy policy of not using it policy of considering it policy of preferring it
Percent33
Organisation size34
<50 employees 10 45 0 55 0
50–99 employees 6 29 29 43 0
100–499 employees 36 25 3 61 11
500–999 employees 14 23 0 62 15
1000–4999 employees 29 32 14 46 7
5000 or more employees 10 0 10 80 10
Organisation type
Central government 93 26 9 57 9
State owned enterprise 12 33 0 58 8
Overall 105 27 8 57 9

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not add to 100

The reported actual use of open source software (Table 16) indicated that in more than half of responding organisations, up to 20 percent of servers had open source software. In more than a third of responding organisations, up to 20 percent of desktops had open source software other than operating system or 'Office' suite type software.

Table 16

Government use of open source software (30 June 2008)


 Servers or desktops running open source software
none <20
percent		 20–80
percent		 >80
percent		 don't know
Percent35
Servers
Open source operating system 23 55 16 2 4
Other open source software 24 60 9 3 5
Desktops
Open source operating system 76 18 2 0 4
Open source 'Office' suite 78 15 0 1 6
Other open source software 45 36 8 4 8

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not add to 100

The availability of support can sometimes be seen as a barrier to the uptake of open source software. The survey data show that government organisations use a variety of support models. Most commonly, open source software is supported by internal staff (40 percent of organisations that responded), but others use both internal and external staff (24 percent) or exclusively external staff (23 percent). Larger organisations were more likely to use exclusively internal support staff and smaller organisations were more likely to use exclusively external support staff (Table 17).

Figure 12

Graph showing Government sources of open source software support (30 June 2008)

Government sources of open source software support (30 June 2008)

Table 17

Sources of open source software support by organisation size (30 June 2008)
Total number of responding organisations Who supports open source software
internal staff both internal &
external staff		 external staff don't use open
source software
Percent36
Organisation size37
<50 employees 10 20 0 50 30
50–99 employees 6 17 0 33 50
100–499 employees 36 39 33 22 6
500–999 employees 14 36 36 21 7
1000–4999 employees 29 52 14 17 17
5000 or more employees 10 50 40 10 0
Organisation type 40 24 23 13
Central government 93 40 23 24 14
State owned enterprise 12 42 33 17 8
Overall 105 40 24 23 13

Note: Due to rounding, some figures may not add to stated total

Responding CIOs most commonly reported that obtaining open source software support skills was not difficult. Where they were able to answer the question, the most common response with respect to skills relating to internal staff, New Zealand vendors, overseas vendors, or the Internet community was 'neither easy nor difficult' (Table 18).

Table 18

Government ease in obtaining open source support skills (30 June 2008)


 Ease in obtaining open source support skills
easy neither easy
nor difficult		 difficult don't know/
not applicable
Percent38
Internal staff 17 33 18 31
New Zealand vendors 12 37 11 39
Overseas vendors 8 23 4 66
Internet community 17 26 3 54

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not add to 100

Footnotes

[32 http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/open-source ]

[33 Percentages are of all responding organisations in each organisation size or type ]

[34 Number of employees is an estimate derived from a variety of sources including annual reports, the State Services Commission's Human Resource Capability Survey, organisation websites, and the number of reported ICT users. ]

[35 Percentages are of all 105 responding organisations ]

[36 Percentages are of all responding organisations in each organisation size or type ]

[37 Number of employees is an estimate derived from a variety of sources including annual reports, the State Services Commission's Human Resource Capability Survey, organisation websites, and the number of reported ICT users. ]


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