[Web4lib] Gartner on OSS

[K.G. Schneider]

If you think of Gartner (as I do) as a kind of IT-for-squares company...
useful information on some issues, hilariously tone-deaf on others (though
in a way that can be extremely useful if you're trying to decipher how the
"enterprise corporate brain" currently thinks)... their recent article,
"Open Source in Higher Education, 2008," is intriguing in its positive
analysis of open source. The recommendations are interesting (and, I think,
mostly spot-on):

"Recommendations for Users
. Look for a sustainable community that has a critical mass of skills
supporting OSS.
. Look for a cultural match between the OSS community and your internal
developers and user culture as it enhances communication and perceived user
satisfaction.
. Prepare an SOA that can integrate IT services from many sources, including
OSS.
. Avoid OSS that is not built on open standards.
. Make a conscious risk-based decision about whether you will depend on
internal resources or external services for your OSS implementations."

K.G. Schneider
Free Range Librarian
AIM/Email: kgs at freerangelibrarian.com
http://freerangelibrarian.com