When evaluating open-source software for an enterprise Web or application
platform, the following are important considerations:
• Size and activity level of the open-source community. There is a lot happening in open source and the most popular projects (determined by downloads and community involvement numbers) are the ones that will likely survive and thrive, providing a steady stream of innovation
• Open-source license (not just free). Projects must have an open-source license (GPL, CDDL, Apache, etc.) that is endorsed by the Open Source Initiative (OSI—
http://www.opensource.org/) This is the only way to determine if it is truly open source; otherwise, it is just another proprietary license
• Active deployments. Are there other customers using this in production? You probably don’t want to be first unless there are compelling business reasons.