What Is Open Source?

Open source software, open systems, open data, open standards, open….
‘Openness’ is a topic that is increasingly being talked about. From reading and listening to the discussion, it is clear there is no consistent definition of what Open is. However that doesn’t detract from the passion of open advocates and the benefits of Open source, data, standards etc.

Lets look at some of the components

Open source software consists of applications and components where the source code is publicly available for others to use and enhance as they wish. Such software has large (online) communities of developers and users sharing information on bugs, enhancements and ideas related to the application or component.
Examples include:

1. Joomla or Drupal – web content management applications
2. Thunderbird – desktop email and messaging application
3. LibreOffice – desktop productivity suite
4. Linux – operating system

In the world of open source software, there are two types of licences used to ‘govern’ ongoing development in summary;

• GNU General Public Licence where the main principle is that if you use an open source application or component in your software then your software needs to be made available as open source as well
• Apache Licence where the principle is a little different in that you don’t have to make your software application open to other developers even though you may have used open software in the application

(Open) standards are needed to produce open software

In order for software to be open, standards are needed. Open standards exist in many software areas but in order to considered as an open standard, each one must comply with a number of criteria. Two examples of open standards are;

• TCP / IP – together these two open protocols enable networks around the world to exchange data and thus was a big contributor to the development of the worldwide web
• HTML – one of the markup language standards for web pages

Such standards work from a similar principle as open software; if a standard is good enough, then they are used, otherwise an existing standard is enhanced or a new standard is started and shared around the world. One benefit from using open standards is ‘interoperability‘ where my application or component can work in different software environments.

Then there is open data

The final open component is open data, which is as important as the other components. As the use of the web has increased, so has the amount of data and information, both personal and business, from new product and customer announcements to holiday photos and Government services information. With this growth, a debate on how best to use all this information with due consideration to privacy, security and the potential benefits of information sharing has taken to the air.
In an ‘open’ letter from Google on the “Meaning of Open”, three useful principles of openness were discussed;

• Value - by sharing information and data companies can make products and services that can be beneficial to people. In return, companies need to explain in simple language to users the value that they receive in turn for sharing some or all of their data
• Transparency - where it needs to be easy for a user to find out what information is being gathered and how it is being used
• Control – where the final decision is in the hands of a user to easily control how much information is shared via such features as opt-out.

From my experiences of the Open world, I find it innovative and with that innovation it can be a little chaotic as open source software, standards and data evolve. Evolution is an apt term for the Open world because I think it’s a longer term game but progress is ongoing.

Website Accessibility: Why Bother?

An accessible website is the one that anyone can access and can easily use, including those with disabilities. It would be fair to say that while most business want their website to be ‘user friendly’. Accessibility is not at the top of their agenda. In all of the years I have been developing business websites, no company has ever requested accessibility as part of their website brief. It is often part of the brief for public sector websites but even then this is usually a result of a legal requirement or the aim of achieving an award.
Making a website accessible can mean extra effort on behalf of the web designer and the organisation behind the site. To achieve great accessibility though, all types of end user need to be considered and catered for, from those with visual impairments who may use a screen reader to read your website’s text, to users with motor skill difficulties and intellectual disabilities. This can add extra cost to the project which many businesses are not willing to pay especially since the return on investment may not be immediately obvious. Given the extra cost and effort…

Why should a business consider having accessibility as part of their website brief?

1. If your business has a social conscious and states that it cares about it’s social responsibility, then incorporating some accessible features is worth considering. These can then be listed in an accessibility statement on your website.
2. You may think that your target customers do not have disabilities but when you think of all of the different types of disability then chances are that a certain percentage of them do. For example, most of them will not be totally blind, but many of your customers may have poor vision or be colour blind and will not want to work with you if they can’t use your website.
3. A website designed for people with disabilities will also be very accessible to everyone else, allowing your site to reach a wider audience.
4. Many accessibility features also have good cross over with other important considerations like cross browser and cross device compatibility. For example many experts don’t recommend the use of Flash, as screen readers can’t read the content in a Flash site and people with certain disabilities can find moving content hard to focus on or interpret. Similarly a Flash site won’t display at all on the iPhone or iPad so by meeting this accessibility requirement you are making a site that will ultimately be seen by more people. I have come across a few sites lately that because they are built entirely in Flash don’t display at all on the iPhone or iPad.
5. Accessibility forces you to think about the end user. Often business managers want to include a particular item on their website such as animation or a video because they think it will look impressive or because the competition has it on their website. If they have to consider ‘Is that Accessible?’ it forces them to stop and think about how the end user will perceive the content. If it does not enhance the site for the end user then why would you add it to your website?

If accessibility is part of your website brief from the beginning then it is a lot easier and cost effective to achieve than trying to make an existing site accessible.
In website accessibility – Part 2, I will guide you through some of the features you can add to your site to ensure it is accessible, as well as giving tips on how you can check the accessibility of your website. In the meantime The Centre For Excellence in Universal Design is a great resource.

VoIP: A Growing Industry

Infonetics Research, an international market research group, recently conducted a study that showed the VoIP (voice over internet protocol) industry growing by nearly 10% in the global market in 2012.  Taking into account both the business side of the VoIP industry and the quickly growing residential sector, combined revenue increased by about $6 billion dollars during 2012, making the industry worth some $63 billion dollars.
With these analytics in mind and keeping in-line with VoIP’s growth, experts expect that by 2017 global earnings will shoot up to $82.7 billion dollars.

Integrating into mainstream use

The reason behind VoIP’s growing success has to do with the way it has quickly begun to integrate itself into mainstream use.  When IP phone systems started to catch on back in 2004, it was still a pretty niche industry.  While some businesses were cutting the cord to their landlines and moving over to Internet-based telecommunications, many still were wary of putting so much trust into a fairly new industry.
But now in 2013, all that has changed. Each month, more and more geographic locations are opening up allowing the service to continue to proliferate on the global market.  This growth isn’t falling on deaf ears either—many of the big name phone service providers are in support of these changes, citing things like the continued upkeep costs of old switch operated lines and the push towards mobile communications as the main reasons to embrace this switch.

Why is VoIP attractive?

This begs the question: what makes VoIP such an attractive option over the quickly becoming defunct public switched network?  The answer lies in a user or company’s pre-existing IP structure.  VoIP is made possible as packets of information travel between one user and the other, similar to the way information travels across the internet, only instead of text, video and images, VoIP packets transport sound.

Hosted or not?

Within the industry, consumers are given two options: hosted or not hosted.  Hosted VoIP uses a supplier’s servers to host the service, eliminating the need for the company in question to devote any onsite personnel to the upkeep and maintenance of the technology.  This can be a great fit for companies in the nascent stages of growth who have yet to dedicate an IT staff for such issues.
Non-hosted VoIP services require that the business purchases the necessary equipment from a dealer and sets up the infrastructure on their own.  The benefits of this method include faster response times in the event of an error and a heavier hand in the quality control department.  If a business has a dedicated IT team, they should have no problem setting up and maintaining an onsite VoIP system.

The future of VoIP

What do VoIP services have in store for the future?  While businesses continue to enjoy the benefits of Internet based telephony, VoIP suppliers seek to make more of an impact on the residential market.  By advertising lower rates (in some cases up to a 90% annual savings) and many of the same features that exist on today’s public switched networks such as three-way calling, call waiting and voicemail, suppliers hope to prove that VoIP phone services are an attractive alternative to their current method of telephone-based communication.
Today, many government organizations are spearheading the VoIP movement as they release study after study that shows the huge opportunity for savings.  One study conducted in schools across the UK showed how switching to VoIP communication systems saved them nearly £100 million annually.  Funds saved on phone services can lead to increased investment in new teaching technologies and supplies.  If VoIP technologies can save this much money in the education sector alone, just imagine what it can do for your industry!
Have any thoughts that you would like to weigh in with?  I’d love to hear from you below.