Archive for the 'Open Source' Category

Using Open Source in Offshore Software Development

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The term open source software, OSS in short, may not be known to everyone. In your IT career, you must have heard of the Linux operating system. This is the operating system that has made a huge impact in the data center. Though LINUX has made its name as OSS, there are several others that fall under the category of open source software, some of these been developed by large organizations, such as SUN, IBM, and others. There are others from smaller companies which you might not ever hear about. There is a difference between what we call OSS and other software like the one from Microsoft, which is essentially proprietary software. Open source software allows free distribution of its copies. Not only that, you get to receive the original code that makes up the program. On the other hand proprietary software can only be distributed under license, and the original codes are never made available to you.

The combination of OSS and offshore development, yield high quality, and cost effective software, which is more easily available. As it is it is a good idea in having OSS as a part of the software development project that you want to outsource. However that is a different topic all together, but covered in a previous article Open Source and Offshore Development.

In choosing to outsource your software development project, it is not only the pure coding skill that should be considered as far as the offshore company is concerned. A decision to outsource your project involves many other aspects to be considered before that decision is taken. There is obvious trust that you should have on the offshore company, who you wish to partner with, and this trust would develop over time. However establishing trust needs to have a beginning. First of all the offshore company should be having good references of their previous work. There should be case studies that you can go through, which would reflect their professionalism in the work that they have done so far. At the same time the applicable skill set that the team has, needs to be evaluated. Even after all these, there could be those nagging doubts that you may have in trusting the offshore company in the way you would want to, since the company concerned is not a referral from one of your previous contracts.

OSS source is the foundation of trust and confidence when you choose to outsource your software development. It provides you with the trust in the software being developed. It provides insurance in the worst case the project has not been delivered in the way you wanted. You still have the code and your infrastructure based on open source architecture which can be resumed or modified by a different software development partner. In other words, you still have the opportunity to engage other programmers to update the software much faster, since it is based on open source. If open source was not used as the base of the software being developed, it would have been more difficult to replace the programmers, in the event of worst case scenarios.

There are different interpretations to the term open source. In the previous example, open source would mean the complete product, which includes, tools, libraries, etc. Delivery of the developed software would not just mean delivery of the source code with the solution. It has to include the open source product, tools, library, and others which need to have some established resources. This reduces the time and effort of the new programmers in analyzing the software. The new programmers would take much more time to get on to the speed, if the software development is not based on community based open source software.

When you choose to outsource your software development, chose developers who would use open source architecture in developing the software. In such outsourced projects, open source provides the confidence and trust in much shorter time. In a decision to outsource, open source takes a positive approach to your risk management system. You can obtain the most competitive cost in choosing a vendor who would use community established open source architecture with appropriate license. This would provide you with the quality that you require.

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Software Outsourcing to Canada for greater efficiency and good customer services

Converging technologies and global connectivity have redefined the way modern enterprises do business, and international giants like IBM, Microsoft, General Electric, British Aerospace, and General Motors have thrived further — thanks to the bottom-line benefits of successful offshore outsourcing to Canada. The competitive advantages bestowed by some of the companies offering offshore outsourcing services in Canada results into reduced development & maintenance costs, greater efficiency, quicker time-to-market, and better focus on core functions. You, too, can benefit immensely from a successful offshore outsourcing strategy that will help build highly efficient, flexible business models and add value to your business. Outsourcing to Canada is rapidly becoming a management strategy, as international corporations recognize its multiple benefits.

The outsourcing budget of global leaders has increased significantly and the worldwide expenditure on outsourcing services is expected to reach $151 billion. Most importantly, corporate giants in the USA, Europe, and Japan prefer Canada for cost-effective and high-quality software development solutions. According to National Association for Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the outsourcing industry is heading towards $1.2 trillion in 2006. And India, as one of the biggest outsourcing services providers, is likely to gain the most from this market trend. Software Outsourcing helps companies to:

1. Cut application development and maintenance costs.

2. Deal effectively with the peaks and valleys of software demands.

3. Focus on more strategic work.

Canada offers vendor sophistication, as more than 200 companies are quality accredited and serve more than three hundred Fortune 500 companies. Canadian outsourcing firms meet stringent international standards and comply with the ISO & SEI-CMM (Capability Maturity Model) standards. Three out of every four SEI-CMM 5 companies worldwide are located in Canada. Substantial cost-saving can be achieved by IT outsourcing to Canada, as compensation packages are much lower. Studies and analyzes suggest that outsourcing business processes to Canada saves as much as 70%. Apply for outsourcing services in Canada please apply at www.olivecanada.ca

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Open Source and Offshore Development

In combining Open Source software and offshore development, high quality, cost effective software is more easily obtainable.  In fact, I suggest Open Source should always be a part of any outsourced software development, but that is a different topic.  The focus of this article is how Open Source provides a foundation of trust and confidence when using and/or providing offshore software development services.

When purchasing software development services, many people make the mistake of assuming that the only reason to choose one person/company over another are pure coding skills.  Simple as that right?  Wrong.  Developers also assume the person/company procuring software development cares deeply about Java vs. .Net vs. PHP vs. RoR.  Wrong.  Well, ok, maybe both of these points are not entirely wrong.  Yes, people do care about coding prowess and technology infrastructure, but I believe there are many other factors when making an outsourcing decision.

People who purchase software want to have confidence and trust in the people they choose to develop software.  Confidence and trust can be earned over time, but how does it start?  Well, of course, the software developer(s) needs to have good references, case studies, professionalism and applicable skill sets.  But, even after reviewing these factors, there might still be nagging doubts about trusting someone you have never met and the person or company was not a referral from one of your contacts. 

Open source software is the foundation for confidence and trust when choosing to outsource software development.  It is the catalyst to an acceptable answer to the “what is the worst that can happen” scenario.  In other words, even if you make the wrong choice in outsource software development partner, your code, your infrastructure will still be based on Open Source which can be parlayed to different developers much faster than completely original code.  In the worst case scenario, if the software being developed is not Open Source based, it will be much more difficult to replace the developers. 

“Open Source” can mean different things to different people.  In this article, my definition of Open Source is intended to mean complete products, tools, libraries, etc. with a vibrant community.  (Read Succeeding with Open Source for one reference on choosing Open Source software)  It does not simply mean the delivery of source code with the solution.  In particular, the Open Source product, tool and or library needs to have other established resources, so new developers time spent analyzing code and infrastructure can be reduced.  New developers to the project will spend much more time “getting up to speed” on architecture, if the software is not using community based Open Source software.

When implementing an outsource development strategy, choose developers that will use Open Source software in the overall solution.  Using Open Source in the solution provides a shorter path to confidence and trust in outsourced software developers.  Put another way, open source plays a positive part in the risk management of the decision to outsource.  By choosing offshore software development partners that deliver based on community established Open Source with appropriate license for your needs, quality and the most competitive cost can be obtained.

 

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