The organization is phasing out Microsoft software and other commercial products. We discuss the reasons and talk about other companies that are moving to open source software.
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Your reasons
For the past 20 years, CERN has been using Microsoft products - the operating system, the cloud platform, Office packages, Skype, etc. However, the IT company refused the laboratory the status of an "academic organization", which made it possible to purchase software licenses at a discount.
In fairness, it should be noted that, from a formal point of view, CERN is really not an academic organization. The Nuclear Research Laboratory does not issue scientific titles. Plus, most of the scientists working on projects are officially employed at various world universities.
According to the new agreement, the cost of Microsoft packages is calculated depending on the number of users. For a large non-profit organization like CERN, the new method of counting has resulted in an unbearable sum. Cost of Microsoft Applications for CERN ten times.
To solve the problem, the CERN Information Department launched The Microsoft Alternatives Project, or MAlt. Despite the name, its goal is to phase out all commercial software solutions, not just the products of the IT giant. The full list of applications that they plan to abandon is still unknown. However, the first thing CERN will do is find a replacement for email and Skype.
Representatives of CERN promise to tell more in mid-September. For progress it will be possible .
Why open source
By moving to open source, CERN wants to avoid being locked into an application vendor and gain full control over the data it collects. There are a lot of them - for example, three years ago CERN 300 TB of data generated by the Large Hadron Collider.
CERN already has experience working with open source - some of the services for the LHC are written by the engineers of the laboratory. The organization is also actively involved in the development of the free software ecosystem. It has long supported the cloud platform for IaaS - OpenStack.
Until 2015, CERN engineers, together with specialists from Fermilab developing your own Linux distribution . It was a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Later, the laboratory switched to CentOS, and Fermilab curtailed the development of its distribution kit in May of this year.
Of the latest open source projects that CERN has been involved in, one can single out the very first browser . It was written by Tim Berners-Lee back in 1990. Then it worked on the NeXTSTEP platform and was developed using Interface Builder. Most of the information was displayed in text format, but there were also images.
Browser emulator . Sources can be found .
Engaged in CERN and open hardware. Back in 2011, the organization the Open Source Hardware initiative and maintains the repository to this day . In it, enthusiasts can follow the developments of the organization and take part in them.
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An example project could be . Its participants create a switch to synchronize transmitted data in complex Ethernet networks. The system supports thousands of nodes and can broadcast data with high fidelity over 10 km of fiber. The project is being actively updated and is used by major European research laboratories.
Who else is moving to open source
At the beginning of the year, several major telecommunications providers - AT & T, Verizon, China Mobile and DTK - spoke about active work with open source software. They are part of the fund engaged in the development and promotion of network projects.
For example, AT&T presented its system for working with ONAP virtual networks. It is gradually being introduced by other fund participants. At the end of March Ericsson based on ONAP, which allows you to segment networks with the click of a button. It is expected that open solutions mobile operators with the deployment of new generation mobile networks.
Switch to open source software and some universities in the UK. Half of the country's universities open source solutions, including . Its educational processes are built on - a web application that provides the ability to create sites for online learning.
Gradually, an increasing number of educational institutions begin to use the platform. And community members are convinced that most of the country's universities will soon join it.
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Source: habr.com