Section A.3. Assembling Your Open Source Platform

A.3. Assembling Your Open Source Platform

Finding the optimal platform for your IT department is an iterative process. It is vitally important to be aware, from the moment you start implementing even a small open source application, that your goal must be to consciously design a platform that meets the requirements set forth at the beginning of this appendix. This process can mean making tradeoffs. Perhaps it is better to use a less mature application that is based on infrastructure and languages your department already supports than it is to use a superior open source project that requires support for new languages and new infrastructure.

The right choices depend highly on an IT department's existing conditions and skill levels. But we believe most IT departments can find many opportunities for using open source among the projects mentioned in the appendices that follow.