Open Source to the Core John Hubbard, Apple Computer Using open
source in real-world software products: The good, the bad and
the ugly The open source development model is not exactly new.
Individual engineers have been using open source as a
collaborative development methodology for decades. Now that it
has come to the attention of upper and middle management,
however, it’s finally being openly acknowledged as a commercial
engineering force-multiplier and important option for avoiding
significant software development costs. To put it another way,
what object-oriented programming often promises in terms of
encouraging “code re-use,” open source software is definitely
delivering. This does not come without certain costs and
potential pitfalls, of course. This article describes the open
source adoption process at a typical commercial software
operation and discusses some of the more important checklist
items that any evaluation of open source as an engineering
option should include. Roughly speaking, this check