What makes an open source project ready for business?
March 19, 2008 · Filed Under Open Source
A cursory search on Sourceforge, Google Code or Freshmeat will turn up a number of interesting open source products in almost every imaginable category. But which ones are worth investigating for use inside the enterprise? Here are five keys to separating the wheat from the chaff:
- There have been recent additions to the code base and there are developers active on the project. The best evidence is a blog, wiki or a website devoted to the project. Look for recent and regular posts and links to download recent patches.
- The code is written in a mainstream language. Look for Java, C++, PHP, Perl, Ruby or anything else that has been widely adopted. Projects written in D, Gambas, or Erlang will have a harder time recruiting developers, and future support of the project could be problematic. While the fringe languages have many advantages in their respective niches, the more established languages have quality libraries and well documented APIs. This will not directly impact the business users, but it can help avoid a technology dead end.
- Transparent licensing. Open source FUD loves to focus on licensing issues. Be wary of obscure licenses and stick to projects that are using one of the more common ones such as GNU GPL, BSD or MPL.
- A commercially supported version is available. This is the most telling sign that an open source project is ready for business use. The vendor will provide testing, training, documentation and control over the code base. They will also be working hard to build a community of users, developers and partners who will support and further enhance the product. Check also for 3rd party add-ons, which is a sign that the product is maturing well. The most well known example of commercial open source is Red Hat Linux.
- Some marquee customers have signed on. Search around to see if large customers have made public their use of the open source project or the commercial counterpart. The large volume of users will have weeded out the most common bugs, and they might be sponsoring (or pressuring the vendor) for industry specific enhancements.
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[…] the licenses vary. If the software is going to become widely used in your organization, be sure to apply some criteria when making a selection.Of course, it might not be a limited budget that draws you here, but a […]