brianfending.com

I recently started following the blog of Michael Coté at RedMonk, People Over Process. Process value is an area of interest to me, and his points are usually dead-on in the creepy Forrester Wave Report way. Anyway, RedMonk recently released three white papers:

• Exploring Going Open Source
• Open Source Strategies
• Working with Open Source Companies

The first two aren't News in the strictest sense and are strategy-level, but the last provides some really good, practicable advice in just a few pages - in terms that traditional Business Analysts can understand. The problems with free/open-source software (FOSS) have always been the nagging questions, "What about support?," and, "How does one manage that vendor relationship?"

And so, Coté and his colleague break it down into basic metrics, a framework within which to evaluate open source communities in parallel with traditional vendors. This doesn't even get into the whole Build v. Buy decision tree - it's assumed that Buy is pretty much a given, just like in many vendor management-centric shops (like my current employer!). And while it doesn't arm the reader with specific ways to influence toward positive FOSS decisions, this particular piece does provide a way to get FOSS considered, and that's a really good start.

• Process
• Technology