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VietNamNet Bridge – Unable to “sustain life”, a lot of companies which make
opensource software had to shut down their business, while many opensource
software products have disappeared from the market.
Opensource software not fed to survive
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However, it is regrettable that after the students left the schools, the products written by them have been not developed further, because of the lack of the support from enterprises or state agencies.
In an effort to provide more “vitality” to the opensource software designed and developed by students, since 2009, some non-profit organization, like the Vietnam Informatics Association and the Francophone Institute of Informatics have encouraged students to write opensource software by organizing the competitions on writing applications for opensource software.
Besides this, opensource software also came from the research and scientific institutes, which used opensource products to develop embedded products. A lot of packaged products using opensource that serve the works in the police and military, such as security devices, network scanning or positioning devices have been churned out.
And the third source of opensource software is the information technology companies. Since the majority of enterprises are small and medium enterprises with limited financial capability, some enterprises use existing opensource software and develop the products of their own, and then commercialize the products.
The developed products are mainly web creating products (like Vportal by Vietsoftware), or the ones that support online collaboration works (iDesk by iNet Solution). To date, there have been no specific opensource products that serve in the specific fields such as banking and finance.
Recently, hopes have arisen about an accounting software running on Linux, when MISA announced the cooperation with Asianux to test MISA software on opensource. However, this has just succeeded on simulation environment.
Since Vietnamese information technology companies build up and develop products for the purpose of commercializing products, the Vietnamese opensource community has just made modest contribution to the world’s opensource community.
Still living under trying conditions
Over the last 10 years, there have been a lot of opensource software products designed and developed by Vietnamese people or enterprises. However, to date, there have been no official statistics about the number of opensource software products, as well as the number of Vietnamese companies that make opensource software, or the turnover from opensource software.
The list of the companies which purely operate in the opensource field remains modest, with the names such as Nhat Vinh, Vsena, Asianux. However, many of the companies have “given up the games”.
Vsena, for example, has stopped operation, and its officers have to leave for other jobs. Rong Vietnam in 2009 announced a product called Fenix, but Fenix then could not develop. When Rong Viet Group did not have the financial support to operate, the Rong Viet operating system has also disappeared from the market.
Many well-known opensource software products have also “died young”. Ha Cao operating system has been “living in a hardship”, while Nuke Viet, a content management system, cannot seek the support to develop.
“In Vietnam, opensource software still cannot live in the name of Vietnamese products,” said Thai from Asianux. “We still have not done much with Asianux”
“In general, the companies that make opensource software have been just trying to linger,” he added.
Due to the great difficulties, especially the difficulties in the “price storm period”, a company, which has been living on opensource software over the last six years, now reportedly has 20 officers only. Most of the companies either have to shut down their business, or have to operate quietly; trying to survive as there has been no sufficient support from the State.
Buu Dien
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