RESUMEN
Up to now, most open source
software (OSS)
deployments have been in invisible infrastructure applications running on
back-office servers (GNU/Linux, Apache, and so on). Beaumont
Hospital in Ireland recently
started developing its overall information
systems infrastructure by deploying more visible desktop and front-office OSS applications in addition to GNU/Linux and Apache. In a two-phase OSS implementation,
Beaumont will save over 30 million
euros over five years. These details
are useful in that few studies have
thus far quantified the savings from OSS deployment. Also, in many cases, the extra functionality available in OSS systems allows for a richer feature
set. Much has been written about
the motivation of individual OSS developers; in this case, the primary drivers behind an organization’s
decision to implement OSS solutions are principle and pragmatism.
A company can contribute
back to the OSS community in its own unique way,
by distributing applications
developed from its particular domain of expertise, rather
than making contributions to the code base of
Gnu/Linux. The former type of
contribution can have a significant boot-strapping effect in that it creates
OSS applications in many domains that otherwise
would have been unlikely candidates.