fetemadi's blog

So once an entity decides to "open up" its proprietary product, what does it entail?  Porting to open source operating environment is not similar to that of porting to a tightly managed operating environment (Windows, MAC OS X, HP-UX, Solaris) since there are more than a dozen varieties of Linux operating environments in the market, amongst them Ubuntu, Redhat, SUSE, Debian each with their own intricacies.  Of course one can decide to build its own distro from scratch.

Having been involved with Open Source Software (OSS) in companies large and small, one of many issues that arise is the importance of establishing guidelines to assist with and promote the use of OSS both internally and in product development as well as conforming with the many different licensing requirements that may at times even appear to be contradictory and conflicting amongst different OSS products.

Also keep in mind that some OSS snippets have a long track history as to their origin and may appear in different OSS code bases.  these tracks are not easily identified without the use of a sophisticated (and usually expensive) software auditing tool.

And not all companies can afford a costly code analyzer.  Some companies are not even aware that such monitoring tools even exists.

Open Source Software has been findings its way into various governments and government entities throughout the world. And it is finding its way more and more into defense industry. And the stringency of defence industry regulations may cause conflicts with the open source license requirements for openness. One example is the co-existance of OSS licenses (GPL2, etc) with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The software used in defense industry apps is being ported to Linux more and more. Yet there are restrictions in use and distribution which may come in an apparantly direct conflict.

Well, you have decided to enter the realm of Open Source Software (OSS), and you have heard all sorts of stories about OSS conflict with proprietary software (also known as IP software – as in Intellectual Property – or closed software) and you do have proprietary software to protect, of course.  On the one hand legal wants to make sure all angles are covered, on the other hand engineering wants to get the product out at the earliest, and lets not forget corporate IT which is questioning how OSS fits in the corporate infrastructure, and so on.