Valencia moves to free software

Over the last decade or so there have been multiple reports of governments or agencies making the switch to free software. Some have been relatively successful, like Munich—though not without some bumps along the way—others have been less so. A recent report [PDF], from a ministry of the Valencia Autonomous Community in Spain, provides a nice look inside the transition to free software. It will be a helpful guide for other organizations who are thinking about making the switch.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (CIT) started to look into free software in 2003: "This change in commercial software sales strategy, together with the CIT's policy of having legal licences for all our users, meant a considerable increase in licence costs which became unsustainable as the majority of our budget went on acquiring these licences." So, the Organization and Computing Department—headed by Martín García Hernández, who wrote the report's introduction—made a proposal to switch all of CIT's systems to free software. The proposal was accepted in September of 2003, and, after a feasibility study, the gvPONTIS project was launched in January 2004.

While it is not an enormous organization, CIT does employ around 1000 people, in a variety of tasks, with 600 administrative employees and 400 engineers and architects. This diversity meant that there were various kinds of software, from office applications to GIS and CAD systems, that required migration. In the process, gvPONTIS also created two new free software projects, gvSIG and MOSKitt, that clearly demonstrate its understanding of the advantages of free software.

Hernández noted that the biggest problem gvPONTIS faced was the "fear of change". This is a common problem encountered when switching users from a familiar environment to something new—not just for software. But, the project had a plan: "In our case, we have faced up to the challenge with well-laid plans, training and an alternative plan of action just in case."

The report is quite detailed in the steps gvPONTIS had to take, the applications and infrastructure that it needed to migrate, as well as the tools it used to get the job done. While the specifics of CIT's environment are unlikely to be replicated elsewhere, the decisions and thought processes that went into the migration will be applicable to other organizations considering a transition to free software.

Moving from existing Access and Oracle databases was eased by using UnixODBC to connect from applications, such as OpenOffice, to those existing databases. But, new development was targeted for a free software alternative. After comparing Interbase, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, it was determined that the latter best fit the needs of the project. The report has a detailed account of the switch to PostgreSQL and the difficulties encountered. There are, of course, still problem areas, which the report clearly indicates, for example:

The project took a pragmatic approach, by continuing to use the existing applications (many of which ran on Windows or other proprietary systems, like Oracle) as it worked towards alternative free software solutions—even if it had to develop its own. Virtualization with VMWare was used to provide access to some Windows applications, for example.

After looking at SUSE 9.0 for the office desktops, the project decided to use the LliureX distribution for which there was local support. LliureX is an education-oriented distribution that was created by the Valencia government and is based on Ubuntu. Standard free software tools replaced much of the proprietary applications for web browsing, email, and office tasks.

One of the biggest successes of the project is the gvSIG GIS/CAD package that was developed for the project. By having a free software solution—not licensed per seat—it allowed more users to access the GIS and CAD capabilities. Instead of 90 GIS/CAD users, there are 400 now. The project has also gained quite a following outside of Valencia, so several pages of the report outline the spread of gvSIG usage throughout the world.

There is great deal more to the report, and it is well worth a read for anyone interested in free software migration. There is information on the networking environment, servers, document management system, CASE modeling tools, and more, from the perspective of moving to free solutions. It clearly shows what a dedicated organization can accomplish if it is truly important to migrate to free software. It undoubtedly had its bumps as well, but Hernández sums it up nicely:

As long as proprietary software companies cling to per-seat licensing and proprietary data formats, there is likely to be more of this kind of migration over time. Organizations that are interested in doing so need to realize that it cannot happen overnight. It took decades of building up their in-house systems, so it will certainly take some time to migrate away from them as well. It would seem that Valencia has provided a nice road map for one way to get there.

[ Thanks to Ismael Olea for pointing us to this story. ]