"I recently had the privilege to hear Stacy Snowman, a well-known intellectual property attorney, speak on a panel devoted to open source licensing issues. She addressed the challenge posed to organizations by the easy availability of open source downloads.
"Snowman observed that when an organization considers implementing a commercial product, several groups get involved: purchasing, legal, IT, finance and, perhaps, others. Their involvement enables an objective assessment of the terms and conditions of the software, including licensing--so the organization knows what it's getting into..."
