Customer Reviews

Understanding Open Source Software Development

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This may be the perfect book about open source software because it places open source within the context of business value and does not promote it as the great panacea that characterize the message of far too many books on the subject.

What I like is that, after providing an overview of open source, its history and proponents, the authors discuss how to analyze open source software within two major frameworks: the Zachman framework that was developed in 1987 and is popular today as an enterprise-wide information systems paradigm, and a newer framework called CATWOE. I'm new to the latter, but it is solid and is independent of open source. CATWOE stands for Clients, Actors, Transformations, World View, Owners and Environment.

The remainder of the book discusses aspects of open source as they relate to the CATWOE framework, which ensures that fair and complete treatments of the business and technical issues are given. I would have liked a more in-depth discussion of the legal issues and business risks that are associated with the GPL; however, that information is in a state of flux and is probably best gotten from daily news sources.

If you want to understand open source software development, especially as it relates to business value, this book is the one I recommend. The authors also have an associated web site (the URL is provided in the book).

"Understanding Open Source Software Development" (UOSSD) is the perfect introduction to OSS for those outside the community. The book takes a fairly balanced look at the people and processes which define the open source movement. Although some aspects of the book have grown stale over the last three years, I still recommend UOSSD to those desiring a deeper look at the open source phenomenon.

One of the best aspects of UOSSD is its page count: at 180 pages of text, it's a fast read. It still packs quite a punch, drawing upon and summarizing academic and non-fiction literature on OSS. Prior to reading the book I was unaware of the idealogical battle between the Open Source Initiative and the Free Software Foundation. These and other historical observations were invaluable.

UOSSD is useful for those who want to leave the Microsoft-bashing aspects of the OSS bandwagon in search of a more meaningful role in the community. By explaining the OSS community's dynamics, readers learn that a good way to contribute is to submit patches (p. 104). Authors Feller and Fitzgerald explain that OSS has "the highest payoff for software which requires a high degree of reliability" (p. 135). This is the heart of the security debate engulfing Microsoft.

My only criticisms relate to the passage of time. The book's "acknowledgements" are dated Oct 2001. Unfortunately, a company analyzed in several locations, CoSource, appears to have had already gone out of business by then. Late last year Red Hat left its "pure play" OSS role for "RHEL." Concerns over a lack of internationalization, particularly for languages, have been completely reversed; OpenOffice supports more languages than Microsoft Office.

Despite these drawbacks, UOSSD is a great book for techies and managers alike. I'm adding it to my "Management and Policy" Listmania List today.

No points, no correctness, no validation, no value!
What the hell is this book for? Is it just a manifestation that free software is bad?