An Introduction to Free and Open Source Software

Owned by Patrick Masson
Mar 16, 2012

JISC put on a nice presentation, "An introduction to free and open source software" (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/2012/03/webinarfreeopensource.aspx) The first half is on licensing and does a nice job of describing the issues. It is quite granular (and thus a bit dry if you are not interested in licensing details). The second half (move ahead to 26:52) is much more interesting (to me) and talks about how to measure openness as a value that enables quality projects and communities: transparency, governance, development methods that facilitate collaboration, etc.

As open source becomes not only more popular, but also, considering the activities of various legislative bodies (Massachusetts, Hew Hampshire, Washington, Florida), legally required to be included in procurement processes, measuring the feasibility (does the software meet your needs) and viability (how healthy is the community that supports the software) becomes even more important.

The presenter offers a few methods for assessing both the feasibility and viability of OSS:

  • Informal techniques
  • Capability Maturity Model
  • Reuse Readiness Rating
  • QSOS (Quality and Selection of Open Source Software)
  • Openness rating
  • Software Sustainability Maturity Model

Looking at 2-3-98's work the above could help to inform our work, specifically the Openness Maturity Model. I know Clark Shah-Nelson has expressed some interest in the OMM. Those interested should check out https://wiki.jasig.org/display/2398/Openness+Maturity+Model

You can view the presentation directly at: http://bit.ly/JISCWebinar8