Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Open Source projects have been documented poorly. In
addition, Open Source software usually doesn't have a
recognized company behind it to provide support, whether it's
free or paid for. These disadvantages are changing though. A
new market has grown up around Open Source to provide
quality documentation and support—for a price. In addition,
many of the projects have active newsgroups or forums that
can
be
effectively
used
to
troubleshoot
an
Open
Source
application.
Open Source projects can also be plagued with
backward-compatibility problems. Open Source projects
don't take backward compatibility into consideration as much
as commercial organizations. Yet, at the same time open
source projects tend to be more daring when it comes to
innovation and trying radically different ways to approach a
problem.
The biggest disadvantage of Open Source is lack of marketing
dollars. Often, organizations aren't aware of the existence of
an Open Source project or how it might apply. Open Source
projects don't have conference booths, magazine
advertisements, or salespeople explaining the problems they
can solve. Open Source projects also depend on the
enthusiasm and number of collaborators as well as the areas
that
their
efforts
are
focused
on.
For
example,
lack
of
documentation
and
administrative
tools
is
a
common
complaint with regards to Open Source projects.
This brings to mind the successful emergence of Open Source
projects with heavy commercial backers such as the Eclipse
project, which is backed by IBM and thus has very good
