The difference between the successful open source implementation, in which the value of open source is realized for a company, and the unsuccessful one, in which the struggle to use open source is not worth the effort, amounts to knowing your problem, knowing the software, and knowing yourself.
The key to a successful outcome in applying open source is a thorough understanding of answers to the following questions:
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• How would open source software help in providing the solution?
• Does any open source software provide all or part of the solution?
• How can the maturity and stability of relevant open source software be determined?
• What skills are required to install, configure, customize, integrate, operate, and maintain the open source software?
• Does your organization have the needed skills? If not, how can they be acquired and institutionalized?
• In which cases does the value provided by the open source software exceed the cost of using and maintaining it, compared with other solutions?
An IT department that intends to adopt open source must have not only the resources to do so, but also a belief in skills building and an inclination to take increased responsibility for its IT infrastructure. We have analyzed the nature of open source and have listed three different models that can help companies evaluate the vast world of open source in a manner that is consistent and enables them to understand their own capabilities.
The models are:
1. Open Source Maturity Model: A set of questions that help determine the stability and maturity of an open source project, the responsibilities involved in using a particular piece of open source, and the skills needed to manage those risks (http://www.navicasoft.com/pages/osmmoverview.htm)
2. Open Source Skills and Risk Model: A set of questions that help determine the ability of an organization to handle various risks and the tolerance of risk for a specific project (See Open Source for the Enterprise By Dan Woods and Gautam Guliani – From which much of this article is borrowed)
3. Software Cost and Risk Model: A set of questions that help determine the total costs and risks of using open source as a solution for a project (http://sunset.usc.edu/csse/research/COCOMOII/cocomo_main.html)
