An open source(d) controller

Abstract

The open source software movement has been going on for a few decades now. Today, an increasing number of open source solutions enter the market and become valid alternatives to proprietary and closed solutions. Examples include operating systems like Linux and OpenSolaris, back-end solutions (e.g. LAMP -Linux, Apache web server, MySQL database, and Perl/PHP/Python programming languages - are among the most well-known and widely used open source software on the Internet), office applications (e.g. Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email, GIMP graphics, OpenOffice office suite), and complete enterprise systems like Compiere (ERP and CRM) and Mambo content management system (CMS). In addition, a variety of devices increasingly include open source (e.g. cellular phones, network equipment like routers, and Asterisk -a complete IP PBX). The open source culture is about much more than software and includes open source hardware, views on intellectual properties rights, completely changes how products are developed and owned, and how business models are developed. To decide if open source is something for you, a good understanding of what open source really means is necessary. This includes legal aspects (different licenses), availability of support with (hopefully a thriving) user community and commercial for-pay support options, and security. Intellectual properties rights, and the vast number of many types of open source licenses (e.g. GNU General Public License (GPL) and BSD License), is one of the more complex areas when using open source. What can and not can be done, what must be done, and so on, vary between licenses. One effort to bring some order in all this is the Open Source Definition (OSD) from Open Source Initiative (OSI) which lists ten conditions that must be met for an OSI Certified open source license. Today, many companies have already been forced to either remove or release as open source borrowed by developers without properly complying with licenses. Such code is increasingly easy to detect via compliance tools used by companies doing this as business. (Not to mention whistle-blowing employees tipping of property owners.) Searching for dirty is also increasingly part of due diligence in mergers and acquisitions and can add costly delays and lawsuits. The perceived low cost is often a reason for considering open source solutions but the total costs of development (TCD) - including for example licenses, tools, labor, and support - must be considered from initial design, to maintenance, all through the end of life of the product. This paper reviews critical aspects for going open source, including software and hardware, use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) alternatives, system design going from a monolithic, single-binary, firmware to a layered design with operating system, middleware, and user applications.