Abstract
When referring to Open Source Software (OSS) components, researchers, coders and managers do not feel comfortable in defining them as COTS. Many discussions have been aimed to decide whether or not OSS can be considered a COTS without reaching the unanimous consensus of the different international communities. This paper abandons any theoretical aspect of that question and focuses on the practical steps to follow when assembling component-based systems using also OSS components. All the activities normally performed when integrating COTS in a in-house built software are reviewed with the intention of underlining if the availability of the source code (and its possible exploitation) makes any difference. Moreover this article analyzes all the activities to perform when using OSS in a component-based system that are not necessary when using COTS. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for the correct use of OSS within component-based systems, and not to answer whether OSS are considered or not COTS, leaving this task to the reader.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Kenwood, C.: A business Case Study of Open Source Software. MITRE, pp.43–45 (July 2001), http://www.mitre.org/work/tech_papers/tech_papers_01/kenwood_software/kenwood_software.pdf
Linux vs. Windows: Total Cost of Ownership Comparison. Cybersource Pty. Ltd, pp. 2-7 (2002), http://www.cyber.com.au/cyber/about/linux_vs_windows_pricing_comparison.pdf
Total Cost of Ownership for Linux in the Enterprise. R. Frances Group (July 2002), http://www-1.ibm.com/linux/RFG-LinuxTCO-vFINAL-Jul2002.pdf
Widdows, C., Duijnhouwer, F.W.: Open Source Maturity Model, pp. 6–10, http://www.seriouslyopen.org/nuke/html/modules/Downloads/osmm/GB_Expert_Letter_Open_Source_Maturity_Model_1.5.3.pdf
Golden, B.: Succeeding with Open Source, Cap. 4. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2004)
Meyers, C., Oberndorf, P.: Managing Software Acquisition. SEI Series in Software Engineering (2001)
Hissam, S., Weinstock, C.B., Plakosh, D., Asundi, J.: Perspectives on Open Source Software. In: SEI, pp. 53–54 (November 2001)
Clapp, J.A., Taub, A.E.: A Management Guide to Software Maintenance in COTS-Based Systems. MITRE Paper (November 1998)
Geenberg, G., et al.: Open Source moving into Enterprise. Cutter Consortium (2003)
Abella, A., Sanchez, J., Segovia, M.A.: Libro Blanco del Software Libre en España (2004)
Wilcox, J.: Microsoft Secret File Could Allow Access to Web Sites. CNET news.com (April 2000), http://news.com.com/2100-1001-239273.html?legacy=cnet
Poulsen, K.: Borland Interbase Backdoor Exposed. The Register (January 2001), http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/12/borland_interbase_backdoor_exposed/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Di Giacomo, P. (2005). COTS and Open Source Software Components: Are They Really Different on the Battlefield?. In: Franch, X., Port, D. (eds) COTS-Based Software Systems. ICCBSS 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3412. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30587-3_39
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30587-3_39
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-24548-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30587-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)