Evaluating Open Source

CowboyRobot writes "Jordan Hubbard cofounded FreeBSD and now oversees the Darwin implementation of BSD for Apple. He describes open source as 'finally being openly acknowledged as a commercial engineering force-multiplier and important option for avoiding significant software development costs.' And thus, companies need to know how to evaluate open source engineering as an option for them. In a new article titled Open Source to the Core, Hubbard goes through a typical open source adoption process."

Comments

Re:avoiding significant development costs..

[nial-in-a-box]

Doesn't necessarily have to be at the expense of anything. Mainly, though, it can lead to more complicated development, especially during a transition period. Also, with the change in how technical support is handled, more problems can arise at that point. Basically, the best thing to do is check everything out as much as you can and be very prepared. A wide margin of error, especially in the time department, can lead to a great deal of success when making a potentially massive transition.

Re:So will we see Darwin open sourced?

[fmorgan]

Darwin is open sourced. You can download it from

http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/darwi n/

Aqua is NOT.

And at opendarwin you can find a x86 port of darwin.

a few extra notes from someone using OSS

[iguana]

- Be prepared to become an expert on everything. If you have problems with component X, if no one in the community is interested in fixing it or if you're under time pressure, you'll have to fix it yourself. Also known as the "if you don't have a kernel expert on staff, you will eventually" rule.

- Almost nothing works the first time. OSS engenders infinite flexibility which eventually reaches infinite permutations. The plethora of configuration options to a large project's source can be very daunting. Everything interlocks with everything else for maximum flexibility which means more work up front to understand how the pieces fit together.

- Forget about binary portability. OSS is designed to support source code across platforms in the same way Windows is designed to support binary backwards compatilbity.

- Expect complexity and plan for it. OSS supports every platform under the sun which breeds extra complexity.

- Have lots and lots of patience.

Just my two cents from having developed embedded x86 and ARM Linux for the last two years.

Re:a few extra notes from someone using OSS

[iguana]

I agree. In my experience over the last several years, I've found people who use OSS projects tend to be more self-starters, curious, and technically adept.

I joke that you learn a lot with Linux, et al, because you *have* to. Show me someone who is running Linux (or BSD) at home and I'll show you someone who knows and likes computers.

Suprise!

[Proteus]

In a five page article on open source, he mentions Linux 3 times -- once wrt KDE, once wrt Gnome, and once wrt Slashdot. That's it.

Maybe because:

• Linux is already well-known
• Linux was /not/ the first open-source product
• There's a lot more to OSS than Linux