OSS Open Lab, the New Service for OSS Promotion in Japan

The Open Software Center of IPA is a governmental organization for promoting open source software and open standards in Japan. This June, it started the new public service for OSS developers and users: "OSS Open Lab." In this presentation, we will present our strategy of "OSS Open Lab." The architecture and usage of it will be also presented. "OSS Open Lab" is a server system running in a data center to provide public service via the Internet. Various application software and development tools are equipped on it. Various versions and distributions of Linux are also equipped and run on a virtual machine which is assigned for each user. Thin-client technology enables users to use these software environments from their own PC without any installation on their PC. The only requirement is a standard web browser with a Java plug-in. OSS developers can use tools for development and/or evaluation on it to develop their own software. OSS users or potential users can make trial use of OSS application software provided on it. The intention of this service is to provide a rich software development environment for OSS developers, and to reduce difficulty of trial use of OSS applications from OSS potential users. "OSS Open Lab" can be used for OSS training for people in local areas also.