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Open Source Software Assessment

The document discusses factors to consider when assessing open source software for enterprise or startup use. It outlines key attributes like business requirements, functionality, costs, support, reliability, performance, scalability, security, interoperability, proven track record, availability of integrators, and license restrictions. Real-world examples of open source adoption include companies like YouTube and Twitter, which are built entirely on open source components. Assessing open source software properly involves evaluating these various technical, financial, and legal considerations.

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Prashant Rawat
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75 views24 pages

Open Source Software Assessment

The document discusses factors to consider when assessing open source software for enterprise or startup use. It outlines key attributes like business requirements, functionality, costs, support, reliability, performance, scalability, security, interoperability, proven track record, availability of integrators, and license restrictions. Real-world examples of open source adoption include companies like YouTube and Twitter, which are built entirely on open source components. Assessing open source software properly involves evaluating these various technical, financial, and legal considerations.

Uploaded by

Prashant Rawat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Open Source Software

Assessment
 Open source software is mature enough to be considered in
production environment of the Enterprise.

 As said by Raymond, Open source is a market.

 When anyone enters a market and strolls around the area


looks for many things which he wants to buy.
 But what the questions should come in your mind…

 Do you really need it?

 Is it of good quality?

 Is it reliable?
 There are many questions one should answer to
select a product wisely to meet the requirement.
 When it comes to choose an open source software
be it enterprise or start-up, one must do a detailed
assessment before using open source software.

 Following are some of the important attributes that


should be considered for assessment.
Business Requirement

 Assessment should first start with understanding the business requirement.

 Assessment should consider


 Budget allocation for procuring hardware and software.
 Whether the application business is critical or not…
 Number of users year on year…
 Acceptable procurement duration…

 These are few of the points to note during business requirement gathering…

 A well understood business requirement will help in choosing the right product.
Functionality

 List down all the application functionality needed…


 It is often useful to segregate functionality based on absolutely
required and optional.
 Sometimes we might have to decline few functionalities due to various
reasons, for example support might not be good.
 To fill in the missing functionality we may have to look for alternate
program or use your developer to write a code.
 Also, consider how well it integrates and is compatible with the
existing components you already have.
Cost

 Lesser cost is one of the primary drivers for adopting open source.
 Open source software may not cost much to get the software but
there will be other cost…
 The other costs includes support, deployment, staffing, indirect
costs (such as downtime/interruption/ideal time and training), and
transition costs (such as data transition).
 All this should be included in Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) and
Return of Investment (ROI) calculation.
Support

 Support is the supreme factor for good requirements.


 Look for different levels of support.
 In some cases supports are divided into Silver, Gold and Platinum
support levels.
 It is also necessary to look at time taken to resolve issues raised
under different levels.
 Apart from vendor support, one should also evaluate how active
and responsive the communities and support groups are.
Software Development

 Open source software development methodology is


different from proprietary software development.
 Open source needs a very well collaborated effort to
develop a product.
 Software development should be well managed and
governed, defects should be available for anyone to view
and version changes should be properly tracked.
Reliability

 Generally, developer and user communities are involved in


fixing defects.
 Developers really care about reliability, when the product is
more reliable their sell-ability climbs.
Performance

 Open source project websites generally contains performance


data.
 Look for the parameter used for the performance benchmark.
 In some cases the parameters are twisted to show good
performance.
 Customers need to visit their forum and read through
discussions to get a realistic performance data put by users.
Scalability

 This is usually measured by the following parameters –


maximum data size, supported number of users, number of
nodes (servers), memory and CPU.
 Compare this with the business requirement year on year.
 Do not rely on theoretical limit instead look for benchmark
data to get much pragmatic numbers.
Security

 Check for the penetration testing results.

 Have the developers identify any vulnerability and are they


fixed.

 Also, check against your own security requirement.


Interoperability

 Open source gives freedom to build your own solution.

 Therefore, we have the option of using different products to


build a suitable solution.

 But check if the product works well with other products used
in the solution.
Proven

 Is the product widely used?


 How many years the product is being used and is it popular
within the same domain of your business.
IT integrator

 If there are no skilled in-house resources you might have to


rely on IT integrators.

 Therefore, check how many integrators can implement the


product. You can also negotiate better if there are many
integrators.
License

 Read the fine print of the license document.


 Are they any limitations for number of copies, or users?
 Look under which licensing scheme they fall under– GPL,
BSD…etc.
 The GPL license prohibits the use of open source with the closed
source code to be sold as proprietary software.
 However, the open source with commercial license can be used
with the closed source code and sold as proprietary software.
License
Examples of Open Source Adoption in the world

 Open source software adoption saw a surge during deep recession in 2009.
 During these tough times many organizations were looking for ways to cut
cost with better productivity and efficiency without compromising on
quality and security.
 Many organizations unilaterally chose “The Open Source Way”. In fact
the organizations choosing this path drew innovation to a newer level.
 It was no more limited to brains within the organization but within the
world.
Examples of Open Source Adoption in the world

 Many fortune 500 companies chose open source path for an instant
financial benefit.
 No doubt that cost saving is one of the major drivers to adopt open
source, but there are more to it than cost saving.
 Better system stability, better malware protection, simplified updates
for all installed software, free software licensing, availability of
application repositories and access to the source code.
 The biggest benefits came down to innovation and flexibility.
Examples of Open Source Adoption in the world

 Many new popular concepts like social networking, blogging, video sharing...etc.
are mainly using open source.
 YouTube was founded in February 2005 by former Paypal employees.
 It is completely built on open source like Linux, MySQL, Apache, and Python.
 Twitter is built on open source software, from backend-to-frontend.
 Their engineers contribute to and release a lot of open source products.
 These gestures only indicate that open source is here to stay and grow.
Real world examples of Organizations that adopted open source
Examples of Open Source Adoption in the world

 IT@School

 Life Insurance through open source

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