Smallworld Open Source Software

The proprietary nature of the Smallworld suite of products is sometimes used as a negative point against a potential customer choosing Smallworld as their GIS system. One argument is that the programming language (Magik) is not a standard and open language and therefore it is expensive to train (and retain) good Magik developers. A group of developers in the Smallworld community are attempting to address that concern and are using Open Source Software concepts as their guiding principles. I recently had the opportunity to interview Brad Sileo of Ten Sails Consulting about his thoughts on Open Source as it applies to Smallworld.

I have noticed that SourceForge has a MagikComponents project. Is that the main focus of the current open-source "movement" in the Smallworld community? Are there other open source initiatives going on with the Smallworld product.

This project is the main area I am aware of, though there are several packages currently hosted there. In addition to the Magik Component library, the Minto Spatial Workbench tools are hosted on the same Sourceforge site. These separate sets of software are both offered under different public licenses.

What is the SourceForge MagikComponents project all about?

I think this project is about lowering the cost of ownership for Smallworld software, and allowing the Smallworld community to build towards bigger, more complex solutions through reuse. Of course, that's a pretty grand vision, and it would require lots of contributors to really make any impact. A less idealistic goal is to provide a simple framework to share some nice bits of code that make the system easier. I find that I always want the suite of tools from that mclib layered product on any system I work on because they save me from reinventing things over and over.

Why do you think the Smallworld community should consider an open source paradigm? What benefits do you see to customers, GE partners and GE itself?

On the grand scale, moving the entire Magik platform to open source would provide a silver bullet to the age-old "proprietary" claims of Smallworld competitors. In reality, the majority of the Smallworld platform actually is open source, with the exception of the virtual machine and the sys_core code. But, the distinction between open source and free software is a critical one - without the open nature of Smallworld source, programming would be very difficult in the system. If it was taken further and made available as free software, the growth in Magik development could certainly provide direct benefit to the existing customer through additional bug fixes, code libraries, and interfaces.
At about that same time that Smallworld was first putting out Magik, Sun Microsystems decided to release its internal, proprietary, cross-platform language and make it available as free software. Java took off like a rocket into many different application spaces on the strength of being open and available.

What kind of Licensing concerns are you aware of with respect to open-sourcing Smallworld? How do(es) the licensing scheme(s) of SourceForge address those concerns?

There are two licenses being used for software in the Mclib library right now - The GNU Public License(GPL) and the Lesser GNU Public License(LGPL). The main difference is that the lesser license is intended to be used with libraries, and as such does not require that all code built from it be released for free access. I would encourage folks publishing items through the library to understand these licenses and consider which is appropriate for their software. I have heard some developers express concern about using modules in the library because they fear this will require them to publish all of the code in their systems for open use. As a practical matter, in most cases, the majority of code built on top of tools from this library is not reusable in a new context. The use of the LGPL mitigates this concern, which is why I have been working to move modules to that license. Of course, it's worth a read of the software license agreement delivered with Smallworld Core Spatial technology, which actually supersedes all of this discussion with its stance on derivative works.

What kind of actions from the Smallworld community (vendors, partners and users) would help further the open source cause?

There would be some benefit in more organizations recognizing that they get value from open source software and thus aiming to return reusable items to the library. There will always be a battle between closed/commercial software makers and the open source choice, which is no different in the Smallworld space than in operating systems, word processors, or web browsers. It takes a critical mass of contributors to push an open source initiative to the point where it can produce its own momentum. When that happens, the benefits start to magnify for the existing users and you can get an exponential return for the overall community in available functionally and software quality. This momentum also pushes the commercial software to compete with the open solutions, which further benefits the consumers.

*I also conducted the same interview with a colleague at GE Energy. He was able to provide insightful answers to the interview questions. But when he sought approval from his managers he was prohibited from publishing his comments.

Thank you to Brad and my unnamed colleague for their contributions (published and not) to this article.

I'm interested to hear if there are other Open Source initiatives in the Smallworld community. If anyone has information about this, please post a comment to this blog or send me an e-mail.

I wonder if we could get an official response from GE Energy to the question: "How do you see Smallworld working together with the Open Source paradigm?" Maybe it is something to ask them at the upcoming GITA Annual Conference. I would welcome that dialog.