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Open-Source Technology in Digital Signage

Submitted by wftl on Tue, 03/25/2008 - 13:38

By Michael Willems - CTO, EnQii Holdings Ltd

Background

In the last ten years, Open Source Software (OSS), sometimes known as “Free and Open Source Software” (FOSS) has become a major force and enabler in the technology world.

This truly disruptive “community-built” technology includes Linux (a free operating system) as well as many applications, such as OpenOffice.org (a free MS Office competitor from Sun Microsystems), Apache (the web server that powers 75% of the Web), MySQL (the database that powers most web applications), and PHP (a popular web programming language).

Open Source technology represents a new way of thinking in software; a way of thinking where the computer, and knowledge about what it is doing, belongs to the user, and not to the owner of whatever software or operating system is installed on it.

These applications are free – as in freedom, not necessarily as in cost. Open Source thus leads to control over computers, to vendor-independence, to stability, lower direct cost, and especially, to lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). It empowers.

This note describes some of the facts, outlines how EnQii, the Digital Signage company where the author is Chief Technology Officer, is benefiting from OSS, and outlines how in the future, OSS will be increasingly used.

History

When computers were invented, software was hardware: you soldered to create programs. You bought the machine and what it did was up to you.

By the 1960s, IBM had started supplying software with their mainframes, such as the System/360. The software was source code1, was freely supplied with the hardware (not just “licensed”), and was usually modified by the user to suit the particular purpose.

In the 1970s, this model was replaced by a “closed” model, where the client did not receive software; instead, he received a license to use closed, secret, proprietary software that could not be tuned, but had to be used “as is”. This had advantages: non-expert users could now use computers since they did not have to know anything other than how to press buttons.

At the same time, this locked us in. While the benefits were considerable – an integrated software approach, shared development cost, and specialisation – these came at a price. Or rather, at several prices. One is the dollar cost of these licenses. Another is the dependence on the vendor – if a critical application fails, you depend on the vendor. A third is the flexibility: if you do not like an application, you cannot change it. A fourth is reliability. Closed apps do not have lots of people debugging them.

Open Source was developed in response to all this. By the 1990s, developers were motivated to contribute their time in order to create free software, where users are once again, as before the 1970s, able to manage their own computers as they see fit. Open Source is cooperative: most OSS software is written by volunteers. But not all: Companies also contribute. Red Hat Linux, Canonical, and IBM (which invested over five billion dollars into OSS) are examples.

OSS is, as its developers like to say, “free as in speech, not as in beer”. Although it is often the latter as well. But the freedom to run your own computers the way you want has enabled us and many other companies to do amazing things – like create reliable and cost-effective “Software as a Service” Digital Signage applications.

Of course the companies that benefited from licensed closed software protested. Microsoft has compared OSS to “communism”. Doom sayers maintained that OSS would kill Free Enterprise. This has proven to not be the case: instead, OSS has spawned a whole new industry and enabled companies -many in the Digital Signage field.

The GPL

It is a mistake to assume that the OSS software world is an unregulated, unlicensed free-for-all. With considerable foresight, early pioneers such as Richard Stallman foresaw the need for keeping source code free, and they realised that (especially in a litigious society such as the USA) this would need a legal framework. They therefore designed a compulsory license for OSS: the General Public License (GPL). This license, which governs all OSS software, basically says:

  • You can use this in any way you like.
  • Source code is available to you.
  • You may distribute and change this software, but you must then make source code for that changed code available too, and you may only give any of this to your user under the same GPL license.

    It is very important to realise that the GPL does not say “you may not make money charging for this”, or “you must make all your own software, that you write on top of this, available as well”. Thus, RedHat (market cap: $3.5billion) can make money selling a free OS, and Digital Signage Vendors can use a GPL operating system (Linux), write player and server applications, and add the two together; where Linux remains GPL'd, but the specific Digital Signage applications “on top” remain closed and proprietary.

    OSS benefits

    OSS delivers a powerful set of benefits to companies like EnQii:

  • Freedom to innovate. With OSS software, you own what the computer does. You can look at it in detail (in the source code); you can change everything, add, fix bugs, pay others to add or change: the possibilities are endless. For non-free software, the opposite is the case. At best you can use APIs, but these APIs are not often available, and if they are, they are limited.
  • Freedom from vendor lock-in. Use non-free software, and you open ourselves to increased risk. For example, if a company whose software you license decides to start charging a $1,000 per player license fee for Digital Signage, or to outlaw Digital Signage support altogether, there is nothing you can do. If an obscure but significant problem with Windows affects you, you just have to wait for the next version, even if this takes three years to arrive.
  • Stability. OSS software is so well tested that it is extremely stable. That is why the author's company's Digital Signage application has been running since 2001.
  • Closed software is designed to make its owner maximum money, not to help its user best. Ideally it does both – but there is no guarantee. OSS is designed by its users to work, regardless of who makes what money. Technology is the driver.
  • Developed by many – meaning, many minds contribute. The core Linux OS, for example, has hundreds of developers contributing, while Windows has dozens for the core OS. This applies even more to applications. More people know more.
  • Faster release cycles. OSS release schedules are fast and furious; i.e. no need to wait for a long time. Innovation also follows quickly: FOSS is sometimes criticised for not innovating, but this is not justified (just look at the author's Linux desktop, above).
  • Rapid response to security issues. Because thousands watch and everyone can modify, security issues in OSS are not usually hidden; instead, they are rapidly found and addressed.
  • The ability to audit. Because the source code is available, we and others can check what an application does, and ensure that it does nothing bad. In fact, the OSS community does this very actively, all the time – so we do not normally need to.
  • Oddly enough, better support. If you doubt this, try getting commercial support. hours on the phone, hundreds of dollars, few answers. OSS support is easy: there are always forums with thousands of volunteers helping. And because the source code is available, these volunteers often know what they are talking about. And they reply within hours.
  • OSS uses open standards – not proprietary “guesswork/reverse engineer” standards. Corporate customers like this, as do our own engineers.
  • Free... as in free beer. Meaning you save on license cost.

    Note that the last point (no license cost) is by no means the important one. In most cases, this is an additional nice-to-have; it seldom drives (and should not drive) adoption of OSS. The other advantages are simply too great.

    Potential drawbacks

    OSS can also have drawbacks, of course. There is not one benevolent “interface dictator”. Quality is not guaranteed. Innovation is harder than copying. The fact that contributors are not being paid is worrisome to some: they may stop contributing. Device Drivers especially tend to be available later, and they are sometimes not as good. finally, Open Source also needs more expert installers – installation is usually not simple.

    In addition, users often resist change. If they know a certain environment, they are comfortable staying in it. A mixed environment can be hard to maintain, so quite often, the closed environment is adopted even though it costs more – even when it works less well. This is why we use MS Office rather than OpenOffice.org: the latter is free, tight, and reliable, but user inertia means it is easier sticking with the devil one knows.

    These potential drawbacks of OSS always need to be weighed when embarking on any project, just like the drawbacks of closed software (vendor lock in, slow development) need to be weighed. But it is important to not have “religion”, to not be paralysed, and to not get distracted by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). Obviously, vendors of closed source software, such as Microsoft, would prefer it if OSS went away altogether. They may therefore exaggerate the drawbacks and dangers in OSS. In practice, however, these drawbacks are mostly minor and can be insured against by having source code available – the ultimate insurance.

    Who uses OSS?

    Contrary to what many may know, OSS and similar free software is in wide use everywhere.

  • Most of the Internet runs on OSS software (as said, Apache web server, an OSS application, runs around 75% of web sites). The Internet is also entirely open standards based (TCP/IP, FTP, HTTP).
  • Embedded devices are overwhelmingly Linux-based. The router you are using right now to connect to the Intranet almost certainly runs Linux, as does the PVR or cable box under your TV set. Many of the most reliable Digital Signage Players are Linux-based too.
  • Apple's “OS X” operating system is based on BSD, a free UNIX.
  • You may not be aware, but Windows contains OSS too.
  • Google is entirely Linux-based.
  • Commercial applications like IBM Websphere and Lotus Notes, Java Enterprise System, JBeans, JBoss, and MySQL are also Open Source based.
  • Government likes OSS too: in Europe, South America and Asia, many government initiatives are OSS based, and in the US, the armed forces use a secure Linux.

    Open Source technology has made things dramatically better, and is here to stay.

    So is there no case for proprietary software?

    Of course there is! Photoshop, Outlook, and a million other applications will always remain closed. Your own Digital Signage application may remain closed, too. Sometimes control leads to more consistent software (PS is better than The GIMP). The Mac will always be proprietary. But in many cases, the maker uses OSS software at the core, so that the real creative energy can be spent on the specialisation (coolness/GUI for Apple, your Digital Signage expertise for you).

    OSS at a typical Digital Signage company

    Many companies in the Digital Signage space, including EnQii, where the author is Chief Technology Officer, are OSS-based. These companies use OSS in the following ways:

    In what they sell:

    1. Servers (web servers, “SaaS” servers) are often Linux-based. This means very high stability and great flexibility. EnQii uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux; a paid OS. (Red Hat sells $278m a year of free software. Yes, you can charge money from selling freely copyable software. You just stress and sell services. Ask the music industry!).
    2. Media Players are very often Linux-powered. This leads to the same benefits of stability, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.
    3. Many software companies use OSS software development tools and OSS operating systems on development and test servers.
    4. Customers with technical expertise tend to like the stability and cost-effectiveness that comes with open standards, OSS, Linux, etc.

    In running the business:

    1. You can use Open operating systems such as Linux for most of your corporate servers (web servers, email servers, DNS servers, VPN, etc) Using RedHat or CentOS, a free RedHat clone, you save considerable money on server licenses.
    2. Many internal company applications (web servers, DNS,mail service, monitoring software, spam filters) can OSS based. Rather than being totally MS-based, you can use MS software where needed (e.g. Exchange; the Finance System), and use OSS for the rest.
    3. You can increasingly use Linux desktops (e.g. for developers and support staff; on the desktop PC this article was written on; etc). This provides some extra functionality and stability, and it saves $$$ per PC for a not-needed Windows license.
    4. You can consider contributing back to the OSS community. EnQii, for instance, contributes some software back to the OSS community as community-maintained software. This provides some extra credibility with many (OSS-based and other) customers. It has also, however, meant that original work on the application is debugged and enhanced for free by dozens of other developers. That sort of cooperation is the real benefit of OSS!

    Conclusion

    Open Source and Free software have transformed the software business. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and getting locked in, we have been given freedom. Freedom to be our own equipment's boss; freedom to share; and freedom to benefit from cooperation and hence from what thousands of others have already done.

    Many Digital Signage providers use Open Source both in the products like Media Players, and to run their operations cost-effectively. By doing so, they can concentrate on our “real” work: the products and services that they sell. Without OSS, there would not be an Internet today. There would also not be as many Digital Signage companies.

    Sensible companies come up with an Open Source Strategy, where they explicitly decide how to tackle softeware decisions. In most cases, a sensible strategy will be significantly Open-Source based: it will of course use proprietary, closed software wherever needed, but in general, if there is a better Open Source equivalent, that should be considered, and all things being equal, used.


    The author, Michael Willems, is Chief Technology Officer of EnQii,a leading international provider of Digital Signage Software and solutions.

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