Open source reuse in commercial firms

Abstract

Open source software provides organizations with new options for component-based development. As with commercial off-the-shelf software, project developers acquire open source components from a vendor (or a community) and use them "as is" or with minor modifications. Although they have access to the component's source code, developers aren't required to do anything with it. If the component's community is large and active, the adopting organization can expect frequent software updates, reasonable quality assurance, responsive hug fixes, and good technical support. Also, having freely available source code addresses two typical concerns with using COTS components: unknown implementation quality and long-term vendor support.