Dispelling Myths of Open Source and Cloud Computing

Deliverables: 

FAQs, Talking Points, Fact Sheet from other industries

The Myths

• OS is free
• OS means there's no support
• OS means vendor won't be around for long-term
• OS is not secure
• OS means I'm on my own
• OS means hard to use 
• OS is not enterprise-grade or can't be used for fin service

Patrick: AMFI Ghana wanted one system for all MFIs to get easy reports for all MFIs - tried to sell Mifos - couldn't convince that open source was secure - another consultant had wrote paper that said Mifos/OS was insecure and MFIs would lose their data --> rejected in first round of proposals. 

OS is free

Pay for services, support, etc. 

Samuel: find and encountered problem - Zayyad has been good and available for support - have assured confidence in him in Zayyad. 

Craig: res

Ed: Have demand from specialists --> we need to provide training to specialists to achieve bar of quality and level of support to provide guarantee and assurance of service like that of Craft Silicon that of a customer would be willing to pay.

Polly: Microsoft, Craft Silicon: need to raise standards for Specialists - need voting/ranking for Specialists - if have been waiting for one year, should be able to complain about it and hold them accountable, up-and-coming should be distinguished from those who are experienced. 

Raj: Should try and identify 

OS means there's no support

OS is not Secure

Craig: What's most insecure OS?

• Windows - closed and hard to reveal and find what's wrong. 
• LInux - most secure - many people finding bugs and reporting and fixing them.
• Craig: likewise 
• FUD - fear, uncertainty, doubt. - used about OS

OS for Enterprise Grade

• When you need mission-critical, will choose open source
• Space Station
• What is most widely used web server? --> Apache
• What is most widely used mobile OS? --> Android
• What is most widely used DB? --> MySQL

OS means there's no support

• OS is software, support is a business/service - every software that is proprietary or open source, needs people who are providing support. 
• Raj: end user perspective - how much support is available in the market? If it's limited - who can do maintenance, fix bugs, can't rely on internal guys. 
  • Steve: we address this as a community
  • Raj: needs support that can ask for on-demand. 
  • Raj: needs to build to scalalabe support where there are more providers. 
    • How do we build large support services around Mifos? 
  • Need a deep bench of support - need more widely available services.
• Patrick:
  • Why Polly needed to move from Mifos to Bankers Realm --> too much time to get a feature if don't have money to build it.
  • If have more support providers, need to 
• Polly
  • Need guarantee
  • Need support there and need continuity that they'll be there for more than several years.
  • Need to see other companies that can assure of worries and issues that come up
  • Mifos today and Mifos 2030 - don't want to grow out of it and not be less
  • Accountability - fear of working with int'l company - like working with local presence. 
• Needs depth, breadth, quality 
  • Need proper training center to provide training and send staff for training
  • Training center: 
  • Community doesn't know that training is available - 
  • Craft silicon: has on-site training, annual local conference, 
  • What would be willing to pay for training? 
    • Depends on format, if there's sponsorship. 
  • Raj: initially load must be shared - both by community pushing solution and users using the solution. 
• Raj: need calculations for compounding - have wanted this for a year. 
• Venkat: need authorization center to source requirements
• Patrick: first things people do --> search free software microfinance, finds mifos installs it with documentation, think how to use it,  but then don't realize to configure on one's own. 

Action:

• Need to build out channel
• Have more local support