class 25, july 08 globalization of it
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Issues Related to
1. Free Software
&2. Globalization of IT
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Free Software
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Classification of Free SoftwareClassification of Free Software
Considering time as parameter for classification,free software can be classified as follows:
There may be other parameter based classifications
too, say financial and intellectual, or any other.
Time dependent Time independent
Unfinished productsTime-bound
Component basedVariant based
Architecture based
Usage based
User type based
Intellectual property basedTotal freeware
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Unfinished software ProductUnfinished software Product
Typically called "Beta" in S/W jargon, may or maynot have full functionality, usually buggy.
Usually time restricted. The vendor may give a key
that activates the software on the computer, and
keeps it active for a pre-determined period.
The vendor may or may not support during Beta
except basic installation and user instructions.
The vendor's business goal is twofold:To assess acceptance of the target users, and
To reduce bugs before the product is released.
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Time-bound Software ProductsTime-bound Software Products
This class of software has two sub-classes:First is that which expires after a limited periodof
usage. However, is possible to remove the registry
entries of the software and reinstall it. Ex Winzip?
Second is that which expires on a particular date.It may be possible for the user to reset the system
date. However, it cannot be used in regular
production environment, as resetting the system
makes the user lose the correct usage logs.
Vendor's goal is to get the user hooked to using the
product, and hope that the accustomed user will opt
for purchasing it in the market. 6
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Component-Based Free SoftwareComponent-Based Free Software
In this class of S/W, vendor gives away a part of theS/W without any obligation to purchase other parts.
Other parts can be purchased by user, if required.
For example:
Adobe gives Acrobat Reader free, while the onefor creating pdf documents is priced.
Power Point viewer is free, but the software used
to create presentation slides is a priced product.
Business goal is to establish a standard or set a
benchmark/make the product more widespread,
thereby increasing the market share.
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Variant-Based Free SoftwareVariant-Based Free Software
In one sub-class, vendor gives away basic product
free and one with advanced features at a price.
In another sub-class, the product on a particular OS
may be free, while be priced on other OS.
The vendor's business goal is to promote theproduct through first-hand experience, and hook the
user on the promoted product.
This is also targeted at advanced users who need
to use better designs (as in S/W development), orenjoy better experience.
Basic Java edition, Real Media Player are some
examples.8
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Architecture-Based Free SoftwareArchitecture-Based Free Software
Freedom of usage can be restricted by technology
in products that are "multi-tier" (i.e., the S/W that
requires 2 or more computers to be in a network).
The vendor gives away the client tierorsingle userlicense free, while the other tiers may be priced:
Quite common in products that are used by
organizations (Enterprise Software class of
products).
Business goal is to prompt organizations to
purchase feature-rich software for all their users.
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Usage-Based Free SoftwareUsage-Based Free Software
Here licensing terms depend on the type of usage.
In 1stsub-class, the licensing depends on the
purpose of software usage, say development or
application deployment. Most make deployment
licenses priced, but development license free.In 2nd, usage can be restricted by parameters like
certain number of installations, underlying hardware
(RISC, CISC), number of processors, number of
concurrent users etc.The business goal of the vendor is usually to get the
users accustomed to the product and acquire the
market once the users' product usage increases.10
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UserType-Based Free SoftwareUserType-Based Free Software
In this class, the restriction is based on the type ofuser home orcommercial.
Home users can usually get to use the software
free, while businesses need to purchase.
The vendor's business goal is to address the high
revenue segment of the market and building mind
share among all types of users.
The premise is that a user is likely to recommendusage of a software to the employer, if happy with
using the free variant on home computer.
PowerZip file compression software which is free for
non-commercial use, but priced for commercial use.11
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IPRs-Based Free SoftwareIPRs-Based Free Software
Here, S/W is given free, sometimes including thesource code. Freedom is restricted thro contracts.
Users are not allowed to modify the original product
w/o prior consent from the vendor.
Well propagated by Sun Microsystems.
The business goal is to attract users to the latest
version of the software, while giving away the older
version and its source code free for enhancements.
Also to incorporate the advantages of the product
enhancements that the open source community
brings about (if the older version is opened up for
the free developer community). 12
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Open and Free SoftwareOpen and Free Software
Under this class, the software is developed eitherby software enthusiasts, or companies which may
contribute their products to the open source
community.
Everything, including the source code is open. S/Wis distributed under General Public License (GPL).
Under GPL, anyone can develop enhancements ,
but they have to be under GPL too.
All OSS - Wikipedia etc are examples
Anyone is free to redistribute the product for free
(may charge a nominal amount for media like CD)
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Software for Societal GoodSoftware for Societal Good
These software inculcate the true
spirit of Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS).The classic examples are Linuxand
Apache.
FOSS is easily among the greatest
and most involving movements of
the twentieth century.14
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SupportIssues with Free softwareSupportIssues with Free softwareFree S/W is good. But support after sale of the S/W
becomes a necessity. So, how is it provided?
For total freeware (open source), support is
surprisingly a real delight, many a times contrary to
that of the priced products.
Users post their queries to user groups and get
them clarified in global time tech. enthusiasts are
awake around the globe, and are genuinely
interested in providing help and fixing the bugs.New features also get incorporated into the open
source products faster than to priced products (it is
said the comparison is 1 week versus 3 years).
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Effects of Free Software on
Vendors
Effects of Free Software on
Vendors
Giving a product free can increase the usage baseand help the product become a standard per se.
Feedback can improve product quality to make it
more robust (it is like outsourcing testing to earlyadopters, reducing product engineering cost )
Evaluation can reduce product development cycle,
especially as the vendor gets to know what features
are important to the users.Bundling FOSS & Services with H/W presents a
great value proposition to the buyers by reducing
their software license procurement costs to zero.16
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Effects of Free Software on UsersEffects of Free Software on Users
The biggest is that users need not pay for the S/W.So, why all R not moving to free software? May be:
More efforts required to learn and use the free S/W.
The product/technology road map may not be clear/
vendor may not be able to give S/W free any more.
The "free" spirit may lose momentum - similar to
commercial vendor closing the shop.
Free software gets longer to become a mainstreamproduct which may affect even paid support.
Some developments have increased the adoption of
freeware one is "live CD that allows experiencing
Linux without installing it insert CD & reboot. 17
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Free IT ServicesFree IT Services
As with software products, free services too havespecific licensing terms. A few variants of services
may be free while others may be priced.
Using Skype, calls across computers for Skype-
Skype clients are free but calls from IP networks toPSTN networks (and vice-versa) are priced.
There are other software that bridge users across
service providers e.g., now Yahoo and MSN instant
messaging users can communicate with one-another and likewise with GoogleTalk.
Google offers services of translation across human
written languages and office software.18
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Globalization of InformationTechnology
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OverviewOverview
Globalization (G11n) is enabling products and
services to work globally, in various environments
that exist in different countries.
Will discuss G11n in the IT context, and also itsimportance in marketing of IT.
We will also study components of IT G11n,
Processes IT vendors are required to follow toglobalize the products and services
How G11n can help in marketing of IT.
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Why Globalize IT Productsand
Services?
Why Globalize IT Productsand
Services?G11n of IT products & services to meet the buyers'
local needs may be a regulatory requirement, or an
effort to encash opportunitylost to competition
Many vendors have realized this and engineered
their products and services for the local markets.
Need for G11n may not necessarily arise from the
foreign markets. It can be necessitated from the
home country itself. Example of this are:Digital display of messages and announcements
in multi-lingual formats on railway stations
Telcos services in local as well as in English.22
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Components of GlobalizationComponents of Globalization
Globalization (G11n) is not just about
language or interfaces in local languages.
The following are the components of G11n:Engineering (Internationalization - I18n)
Localization (L10n)
Globalized technical support
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EngineeringI18nEngineeringI18nI18n involves engineering to suit local engineering
requirements - electricity interfaces, network ®ulatory requirements, logs and reports in local
languages etc. There are many approaches:
UniversalUsability Engineering: Engineer the
product or service to make it workable universally
(in any country). For this it has to be engineered for
multiple country requirements TV
The advantage is that the product can be made(engineered and manufactured) in any country, and
be exported to any other country.
Hence IT vendors that have globally distributed
production facilities commonly adopt this approach.24
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EngineeringI18n(Contd)EngineeringI18n(Contd)
Country-specific Engineering: Engineer
specifically for destination-countries/markets.Customization Engineering: Involves releasing
basic product/service compatible with multiple
languages, engineering specs, and formats, but
leave the customization to the buyer or reseller.
For this APIs, H/W or S/W adapters, converters
and configurable user interfaces are provided.
This minimizes the engineering cost significantly,but faces the risk of revealing the IT product/service
details (intellectual property) to outsiders.
PAL/NTSC Convertor for TVs or Camcorders
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EngineeringI18n (Contd)EngineeringI18n (Contd)
Business Logic I18n: Subset of Engineering I18n.Involves adapting the business practices and rules
of other markets currencies, taxation rules, units
of measurement, text display, etc. Islamic banking
laws (useful for insurance software).Localization: Involves development of all user-
facing components such as product interface and
documentation in local languages.
To implement L10n, the underlying IT product must
be internationalized to support local languages of
the destination markets. Hindi /Chinese for example
Generally, companies outsource. Have given list. 26
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EngineeringI18n (Contd)EngineeringI18n (Contd)
For L10n, the product has to be engineered to:Handle user inputs of various languages.
Do mathematical and logical operations for
business, as required by regulation.
Provide output in various languages, either in text,
audio or video.
Display the text output of the operations correctly to
the user with the correct formatting on devices.Process country-specific data and file formats.
Package the product in the locally acceptable way.
Implement Engineering I18n27
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Globalized Technical SupportGlobalized Technical Support
Globalization of an IT product is incomplete if
the support is not provided in the local
context.Support can be provided to buyers in their
local context if the support personnel speak
in the local languages.
However, for support to be completely
globalized, the product itself be globalized
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Open Source and L10nOpen Source and L10n
In the open source world, as the product interface
engineering source code is available free to modify,
engineers around the world localize the product.
In fact, open source L10n is far easily done than by
commercial companies, simply because the source
code is accessible to every enthusiast, and is also
free to modify, without IPR barriers.Open source L10n also helps the social cause of
spreading computer literacy to the masses.
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The G11n players,and the
Process in the Commercial Market
The G11n players,and the
Process in the Commercial Market
Various players and their roles are as follows:
Trainer: Trains the vendor engineers on
internationalized S/W & H/W design & development,
language usage, etiquettes of communication etc.L10n Contractor: Translates the items that need
L10n from source to destination language.
Vendor:Accomplishes the globalized engineering
and verifies same from the engineering perspective.
The Reviewer: Verifies the product/service before it
is released into the market. It is better to engage
local resellers in the review of products/services. 30
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Impact of L10n on Marketingand
Sales
Impact of L10n on Marketingand
Sales
Localizing gets it access to the market, which would
not have been possible otherwise.
The buyers feel confident to buy such a product, as
it gives them a sense of being valued by the vendor.Localizing the product can get political mileage, and
an edge while selling to the local government.
Provides opportunities for more revenues.
Pre-sales support becomes a lot easier, because
the buyers can relate to the product more.
Post-sales support however poses a big challenge
since it calls for huge investments in local resources31