Opportunities and challenges in implementing free and open source software

A REVIEW ON OPPORTUNITIES AND
CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING FREE AND
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN CAS: AN
ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL FRAMEWORK
MR. RAJASEKAR RAMALINGAM
DR. RAMKUMAR LAKSHMINARAYANAN
MR. SHIMAZ KHAN SHAIK
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES
MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
SUR, OMAN
1
3rd
International Conference of the Omani Society for
Educational Technology (ICOET 2015),
Gulf College, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman,
25th and 26th March, 2015.

1) Proprietary software - Nature
A fee - for commercial license agreement.
The buyer – No right to copy, modify, redistribute.
Restriction for using the software even for educational
purpose without license.
Most of the software used in CAS is proprietary.
Makes the students more dependent on the institutions for
the software installation purposes.
Plan for the budget to purchase necessary licenses.
Supposed to compromise in practical parts due to software
licensing conflict.
AREVIEWONOPPORTUNITIESANDCHALLENGESINIMPLEMENTINGFREEAND
OPENSOURCESOFTWAREINCAS:ANALTERNATIVEEDUCATIONALFRAMEWORK
2

2. What FOSS provides:
User has the right to access, make changes, improvise
the source code and free to explore.
“The word Free in FOSS refers not to fiscal cost,
but to the autonomy rights that FOSS grants its
user. The phrase Open Source emphasizes the right
of users to study, change and improve the source
code”.
3

3. What we have done…
FOSS - a lot of potential in educational institutions.
Several pedagogical and administrational reasons - at
educational institutions.
increase in use of FOSS in educational institutions –
Studies shows.
Nationally and Globally.
Reasons:
 Various constraints in the proprietary software.
 Technical & non-technical reasons
 Poor guidance
4

 Proposed work:
 A detailed study has done to reveal the opportunities
and significance of using FOSS as alternative for
proprietary software in CAS, Oman.
 A framework has been proposed to identify, deploy and
monitor the suitable FOSS software’s for the IT
courses offered by the CAS.
 Our work identifies - The alternative FOSS tools for IT
Courses of CAS
 Reviewing various challenges like:
 lack of support
 interoperability and migration problems
 poor quality software
 non-suitability
 lack of staff experience
 legal issues and poor documentation.
5

4. Proposed framework for FOSS adoption in CAS
6

4.1 Strategic areas identified:
 Develop FOSS technical plan for CAS
 Form a monitoring committee
 Train the educators to support FOSS implementation
 Create awareness on FOSS initiatives
 Frame policies and guidelines
 Promote FOSS solutions to learner
 Identify the stakeholders and
Evaluate the outcome.
7

4.2 Policies identified
To support the strategic areas, eight polices are
identified as follows:
 Responsible
 Adoption
 Technology
 Develop
 Implement
 Training
 Teaching
 Awareness
8

Strategic areas Policies
Develop FOSS technical plan for
CAS
Responsible, Develop
Form a monitoring committee Responsible
Train the educators to support
FOSS implementation
Training, Teaching
Create awareness on FOSS
initiatives
Awareness
Frame policies and guidelines Responsible, Technology, Adoption
Promote FOSS solutions to
learner
Implementation, Technology
Identify the stakeholders Responsible
Evaluate the outcome Responsible
9
The matrix that highlights each strategic area with corresponding FOSS
implementation policies.
4.3 Strategic area and policy matrix

4.4 Proposed team shall consist of:
1.Programme Director (PD)
2.System Coordinator (SYSCO)
3.LRC
4.Educator
4.5 The roles & responsibilities of the team includes:
Define the policy guidelines
Identify the course level requirements to the FOSS usage
Perform change management programme
Construct the team to evaluate the FOSS initiatives.
10

4.6 Plan for the phased environment
Phase 1: IT foundation (Level 0)
Phase 2: All the courses of level 0 and level 1(Common
courses for IT Specialization)
Phase 3: Level 2, Specialization – SD / Network /
Security / DM
Phase 4: Level 3 and Level 4 (Advanced courses with all
electives)
11

12

Courses Open Source Software
• Introduction to Security
• Innovation in NW and Security
• Computer Security-A
• Computer Security-B
• Network Security-A
• Network Security-B
BackTrack Linux
WireShark
Nmap
OSSEC
Security Onion
Metasploit Framework
OpenSSH
Kali
Ostinato
13
FOSS Suitability: Security courses
5. An abstract / preliminary study:
Courses Open Source
• Programming Fundamentals
• Programming
• Data Structure
• Operating System
• Object Oriented Programming and
Interface
• Application Software Development
Python
PHP
Perl
C/C++
Java
FOSS Suitability: Programming Languages

14
FOSS Suitability: Operating System
Courses Open Source
• Operating System
• Network Technology
• Network Management
• Advanced Operating System
• Network Security A
Zentyal Linux Server
Amahi Home Server
Apachi Directory Project
Clear OS
CentOS
Ubuntu Server & Ubuntu Client
Gentoo Linux
FOSS Suitability: Network Simulators
Courses Open Source
• Networks 1
• Networks 2
• Network Technology
• Network Management
• Internetworking
GNS3
Cloonix
CORE
GNS3
IMUNES
Marionnet
Mininet
Netkit
Psimulator2
Virtualsquare
VNX and VNUML

15
6. Conclusion
Identified that there is a feasibility of implementing FOSS - courses
of CAS.
Extremely benefited from the copy right issues, low cost software
and availability of source code for learning.
The permission of customized distribution of software among the
CAS colleges and on demand support for software is possible.
The students’ expectations can be satisfied with the rising demand
for the latest technology on the campus.
Sharing content is as simple as granting someone access, which
facilitates collaboration without worrying about software licensing.
Implementation of FOSS considerably reduces the budget of
software purchase.
The learning curve is same as proprietary software.

16
The recommended framework for the
adoption of FOSS in CAS:
•Enables the possibility of using FOSS to the
maximum extent
•by addressing various challenges like
•lack of support,
•interoperability and migration problems,
•poor quality software,
•non-suitability,
•lack of staff experience,
•legal issues and
•poor documentation using effective planning and
training.

17
References
[1] http://www.mohe.gov.om

[2] http://www.cas.edu.om/

[3] http://www.cas.edu.om/Pages/More-News.aspx?Qry=9

[4] Use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the US Department of Defense,
MITRE Report Number MP 02W0000101.

[5] N Pankaja , Mukund Raj P K , Proprietary software versus Open Source Software
for Education, American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER), ISSN: 2320 –
0936 Volume-02, Issue–07 , pp – 124 – 130.

[6] Oman Business Law Handbook, ISBN 1- 4387 -7070 – 7, Volume 1, Strategic
Information and Basic Laws, 2013, International Business Publications, USA.

[7] Amal S. Al-Badi, Ali H. Al-Badi, Open Source Software in Higher Education: Oman
SQU Case Study, International Science Index Vol:8, No:8, 2014.

[8] http://opensource.org/osd

[9] Robert W. Gomulkiewicz, Open Source License Profileration: Helpful Diversity of
Hopeless Confusion, Wash.U.J.Law& Policy, 2009.

[10] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html

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