H2O World 2015 - Fonda Ingram

1. Moving from Propriety Software to
Open Source Software
Fonda Ingram

2. Open
Source Propriety
Software

3. Freedom From Vendor Control
• Why Open Source?
o Freedom
• Run the program for any purpose
– Pay attention to compliance
• Customize the program
• Use cutting edge analytics NOW

4. Open Source Software will Reduce cost
• Evaluate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
o Identifying and acquiring software
o Installing software and operating
o Training and or talent acquisition
o Exit costs found in migrating away from the closed
software

5. Responsive and Competitive
• Innovate in Real Time
o Adoption of open source can be part of building a
more agile organization
o It can also be part of (re)building in-house
expertise and regaining control

6. Tip Toe Instead of Rip and Replace
• Start small
o Open source is not a drop in replacement
o Run a POC to get your feet wet
o Hybrid environments may be necessary

7. Coexist with Open Source
• Users are often the most problematic in any
migration
o User buy-in to open source technology is critical
o Education/Training/Support
o Know the everyone will not be on board (try
coexistence of the old and new environment)
o Dale Carnegie - 'A man convinced against his will Is of
the same opinion still’

8. Identical Twins are Rare
• Transition Strategy
o Don’t expect identical
o Commit to training and education consistently
o Test, test and test again

9. A BUG is a BUG is a BUG
• Tradition/habit
o Users find comfort in familiarity and are cautions with
forced to learn something new
• Commercial software often gets a free pass on
security
o Bugs exists in both commercial and open source
o Expertise exist outside commercial software
organizations

10. Embrace/Migrate/Coexist
• Assessment is KEY
o What do you want to migrate (identify statistical
routines)
o Identify impact (workflow and interoperability)
• Third party software

11. Questions

12. References
• 5 tips on migrating to open-source software - Jack Wallen
• Triumph and disaster: Two migrations to OpenOffice – Simon Phipps
• Total Cost of Ownership of Open Source Software - Maha Shaikh & Tony
Cornford
• How to Make the Moe from Propriety Software to Open Source – EastBanc
Technologies
• 10 Reason Open Source Is Good for Business – Kathrine Noyes
• SAS to R Migration – Liz Matthews
• A Saga of Migration from SAS to R – Clayton Gibbs & Joel Dobson
• R vs SAS, why is SAS preferred by private companies – Cross validated blog
• Moving from SAS to R – Thomas Dinsmore