O'Reilly Open Source Convention - August 1-5, 2005

Session
Evaluating the Risk and Maturity of Open Source Projects
Steve Jacobson, Support Team Leader, SourceLabs

Track: Open Source Business Review
Date: Thursday, August 4th, 2005
Time: 2:35pm - 3:20pm
Location: E146
Open source software varies widely in its readiness for IT use. Some projects, like Apache, are rock solid foundations. Others are stable within certain contexts when used in a way and in an environment close to that used by the core development team. Some projects are good ideas that are not yet ready. When first examining an open source project, it is not easy to determine maturity and stability.
This presentation explains a playbook for IT departments to use when evaluating the maturing of open source, the risks involved in using it, and the skills that will be required. Open source projects differ greatly in the amount of information available. The playbook provides a check list for using all available information sources and techniques so that an IT department can quickly identify open source software that appears promising and eliminate projects that are not yet ready.