Open Source Software:

A new dimension in Industrial Software?

Open Source Software:  How relevant is it in Industrial Process Control

What is Open Source Software?

Not too long ago, an unbelievable transformation started occurring....many programmers started giving their software away at no charge! In an age of cut throat business, this was totally unprecedented. Even more incredible: The same programmers started giving their source code away and encouraging their users to change and add to it. Applications like Linux, Apache and Open Office appeared on the market. And they were good...really good! Suddenly, global giants like Microsoft had a completely new breed of competition.

Why do programmers open up their source code?

Most do it simply for the love of programming. They realize they can't do it alone and by opening it up their software to the community, they kick start a wonderful creative venture....and for them that is enough!

Others: Because they realize that their product will advance rapidly as possibly hundreds of other programmers "out there" start adding to it. The Mozilla Browser (in my mind now a generation ahead of Internet Explorer) is a testament to this process.

But how good is Open Source Software?

There are so many applications out there that are open source, it is difficult to generalize. Some of the software is at the very start of development whereas other software has become mature industry leaders. Examples of open source software that has really reached leadership positions include:

Linux: probably the best know example of Open Source software. Because of its flexibility, reliability and price, there are many commercial users (us included) who would not dream of changing the web platform away from it.

The web server Apache: Now dominates the industry with 62.5% of the market. It is faster and more reliable and much less prone to attack. Whereas Microsoft's IIS was experiencing 8 serious vulnerabilities a year, Apache's last serious vulnerability was in 1997.

Others include Firefox (more than 125,000 downloads every day) (don't try it, because if you do IE will end up in the delete folder!), Thunderbird (how an email package should have been written). Python....a programming language that is so good it is addictive! Open Office: of absolutely no use to you if you enjoy paying Microsoft's ever increasing licensing fees! WX a set of astounding graphics objects and so the list goes on and on.

Are there any reasons to avoid Open Source Software?

Non-open source companies (no names mentioned here) would like us to think that there is no support for open source apps. In our experience this is just not so, and there are even commercial companies supporting the applications.

Obviously, many companies are locked into other products and (because of standardization) do not have the option of moving away from there. (This is after all what "locked in" means!)

What about Open source and Process Control?

Because of the conservative nature of the Process Control Industry, the evolution of Open Source Projects has been predictably slow. Nevertheless, a Google search of "Open Source" and "Process Control" shows an enormous amount of activity. Among other projects, there is an Open Source PLC, an HMI ( pre-alpha) and an open source SPC application that use the new model.

And what is St. James doing in the Open Source Area?

By using open source applications such as Python (the language), Apache (the web server), wxWindows (a graphics tool kit) and mingw ( a C++ compiler) we are finding that we have the edge on many of our competitors simply because of the flexibility (and dare I say it) reliability of these tools. Our products too are now showing their pedigree and are starting to move ahead of the pack. In all, the use of open-source has been a very pleasant experience.

In addition to providing source code to the projects listed above, we are also developing our own open source applications. Currently, we are working on:

An open source fuzzy logic controller (watch this space), an open source IDE (Integrated Development Environment), a new Database connection layer and a open source tool kit that supports multiple languages.

Should I investigate open-source solutions?

If you are at all technical then you owe it to yourself to explore this exciting area. You really have nothing to lose other than a little time. If you are not technical at all, then choose one of the more developed open source apps to do your trials on or team up with a programmer who can help you through the process.

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