Speaker "Tony Wasserman" Details Back
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Name
Tony Wasserman
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Company
Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley
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Designation
Professor
Topic
Organizational Methods for Evaluation and Adoption of Open Source Software
Abstract
Open source software has transformed the software industry, not just in development practices, but also in business models and acquisition practices. Companies and other organizations that have previously relied almost exclusively on proprietary, closed source software now have a much broader range of options, giving them the opportunity to reduce their total costs and eliminate traditional up-front license fees. This talk covers some of the key issues in adopting open source software, including organizational processes for evaluation, the determination of whether an open source component is suitable for its intended use, comparative evaluation of proprietary and open source alternatives, adjustment of internal IT processes, and consideration of the business and legal issues associated with such use. Part of the talk describes differences between commercial open source offerings and community-based open source projects. This includes a description of evaluation frameworks for open source software that provides for evaluation not only of the functionality of the software, but also available support and documentation, as well as the quality of the software and its development process.