Viability of Open Source Software in a Large Enterprise

“The purpose of this document is to provide an informative look
at Open Source Software (OSS) within a large enterprise. There is
no intent to prove or disprove whether OSS is a correct choice in
any given situation. Rather, there is the intent to demonstrate to
an enterprise IT professional that OSS can often be a valid
alternative when evaluating software for the enterprise.”

Table of contents:

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Definitions
3.0 History
4.0 Questions

4.1 Why should OSS be used in an enterprise?

4.2 Is OSS stable enough to use in mission-critical areas?

4.3 What do I do if something goes wrong?

4.4 Where can I find people to work with OSS?

4.5 Will I have to retrain my IT group?

4.6 What does OSS cost?

4.7 Is OSS easy to use?

4.8 What training

&

reference materials are needed to use

OSS?

4.9 Does OSS have a future upgrade path?

4.10 Who is using OSS?

4.11 Scalability

4.12 Configurability

4.13 Is OSS Portable?

5.0 Conclusion & Recommendations
6.0 Appendix

6.1 Contributors

6.2 Open Source Software List

6.3 The Open Source Definition

6.4 GNU Public License

Complete
Article