In an effort to reduce rising government IT costs, the Obama administration could turn to open source software. Sun cofounder and former CEO Scott McNealy says that the Obama administration has asked him to prepare a paper that will address this topic and provide guidance on potential open source adoption strategies.

There are many ways that state and federal governments can save money by adopting open source software; large-scale Linux deployments in public schools in the United States have been highly successful, for instance. Overseas, foreign governments are bringing down IT costs by migrating technical infrastructure in government facilities. In addition to helping cut costs, open technologies also increase interoperability and give IT departments more flexibility in how they use and manage software.

Right man for the job?



Although Obama's interest in open source looks like a promising sign that the incoming government is serious about reforming federal IT procurement policies, the decision to call on Sun's eccentric cofounder is an incomprehensible twist. McNealy's long history of bizarre and contradictory positions on open source software make him a less than ideal candidate for helping to shape national policy on the subject. Asking Scott McNealy to write a paper about open source software is a bit like asking Dick Cheney to write a paper about government transparency.

"It's intuitively obvious open source is more cost effective and productive than proprietary software," McNealy told the BBC on Wednesday. "Open source does not require you to pay a penny to Microsoft or IBM or Oracle or any proprietary vendor any money."

This revelation sure wasn't "intuitively obvious" to McNealy a few short years ago when he attacked the notion that open source software could help companies save money. At the time, he insisted that the hidden costs associated with managing open source technology far exceeded the price of buying integrated, proprietary solutions.

"Open source is free like a puppy is free," he infamously told reporters in 2005. McNealy used to argue that Linux and open source software were only appropriate for the hobbyist market and that the modular do-it-yourself nature of Linux-based solutions was too costly for companies to even consider.

Working both ends of the spectrum

McNealy's diametrically opposed views—from 2005 and today—come from the extreme ends of the ideological spectrum. In practice, neither argument is wholly accurate. With a properly planned open source rollout, the migration and management costs can be minimized and overall IT spending can be reduced. In some cases, that will mean deploying cost-free community-driven open source software, and in other cases it will necessitate paying commercial vendors that offer useful services or proprietary enhancements on top of open source stacks.







Image credit: CNET

During McNealy's reign at Sun, the only consistent aspect of his relationship with open source software was his unwavering inability to formulate an effective strategy for using it. He wore a penguin costume to LinuxWorld and proclaimed a love for Linux, then (only months later) told the press and analysts that open source was only for the basement-dwellers.

He argued for years that Sun had practically invented open source software and was a more committed contributor than any company in the industry while he simultaneously scoffed at the notion of liberating Java, one of Sun's flagship products.

McNealy's failure to implement a meaningful open source strategy is one factor that has relegated Sun to niche status in a market that the company once dominated. Sun didn't fully embrace the open development model until after McNealy's departure. Under the guidance of his successor, Jonathan Schwartz, the company has finally started to turn things around. Schwartz has aimed to foster a coherent approach to open source software with a more inclusive and community-driven philosophy—one that has been heavily influenced by key Linux figures such as a Debian founder Ian Murdock, who was brought in by Schwartz to reinvent OpenSolaris and make it more like Ubuntu.

One of McNealy's first proposals for reshaping government IT suggests that Obama should establish a cabinet post for a Chief Information Officer (CIO) who would "have veto power, the right to eliminate any hardware, software or networking product that touches the federal network."

He doesn't say outright that it should be him, but it sure sounds like it could be. For some profound insight into the kind of tasks he would undertake if given such power, I refer you to this historic gem from CNET's collection of McNealy's wackiest sayings:

"Shut down some of the bullshit the government is spending money on and use it to buy all the Microsoft stock. Then put all their intellectual property in the public domain. Free Windows for everyone! Then we could just bronze Gates, turn him into a statue and stick him in front of the Commerce Department."

That's like... totally righteous! Pass me the bong, dude.

Where to find a real open source strategy



Fortunately, Obama doesn't even have to turn to former Silicon Valley executives to find a skilled mind to help him put together a winning IT strategy. The Department of Defense employs some of the leading experts on government open source adoption.

One person whose knowledge would be of immense value in establishing an open source strategy for the federal government is Sue C. Payton, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. She participated in authoring the DoD's impressive Open Technology Development roadmap when she was a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense in 2006.

The DoD is rapidly embracing open source software as a means of reducing IT costs and increasing flexibility. Payton championed the notion that vendor-neutral open technologies can boost technical responsiveness and agility on the front lines. She argued that the US military would be able to move more swiftly than aggressors and respond to new threats in a more timely manner if the military could modify its own technology on the spot and broadly reuse existing components in a wide range of different ways.

That kind of thinking—with a strong focus on efficient deployment, high interoperability, and practical repurposing of existing technology—is exactly what the Obama administration needs to help cut costs and find more innovative and flexible solutions to complex government IT problems.

Listing image by Eddie Awad