Java Reference
In-Depth Information
enterprise Java. Organizations seeking to reduce software
development expenses have found that Open Source software
(OSS) provides a lower cost of ownership when compared to
commercial
offerings,
primarily
because
Open
Source
software is free, both in price and restrictions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Source
Many organizations are using Open Source projects to
varying degrees in daily development. Some organizations
use Open Source only during the development phases so that
it doesn't affect any production environment. These
organizations might use Open Source for building, unit
testing, or integrated development environments (IDE).
Organizations may also use Open Source libraries as a form
of reuse for activities such as logging and XML parsing.
Open Source application servers, web containers, and
Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
servers can be used to provide the infrastructure.
Organizations using Open Source are discovering there are
some compelling reasons for using Open Source besides the
financial benefits. Unfortunately, these organizations are also
discovering that there are some disadvantages as well.
Advantages
The most obvious and compelling reason to use Open Source
is the initial lower cost of ownership. Organizations are free
to copy and distribute software to multiple developers and
users. Consider an application with an installed base of 100
users and a 10-person development team using a $500
licensed commercial product. This would total $55,000 in
expenses. With Open Source products the organization could
