The use of open source software platforms by Independent Software Vendors

This paper addresses the question of choosing/investing in IT (hardware/software) platforms that avoid quick obsolescence and the underlying dilemmas of choosing proprietary software versus open source software, and opting for managed services such as public cloud computing versus in-house hardware/communication infrastructures. These dilemmas in strategic information systems planning have become more significant in light of the recent revelations of security backdoors in commercial software, encryption backdoors in communication software, and governmental access to private data on managed services for national security reasons. This paper considers enterprise-wide challenges and strategies for adopting open source software/hardware in response to these security concerns.

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The Emergence of Open-Source Software for the Weather Radar Community

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society ◽

10.1175/bams-d-13-00240.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 96 (1) ◽

pp. 117-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

M. Heistermann ◽

S. Collis ◽

M. J. Dixon ◽

S. Giangrande ◽

J. J. Helmus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Source ◽

Open Source Software ◽

Weather Radar ◽

User Requirements ◽

Software Projects ◽

Community Based ◽

Related Research ◽

The Past ◽

Software Platforms

Abstract Weather radar analysis has become increasingly sophisticated over the past 50 years, and efforts to keep software up to date have generally lagged behind the needs of the users. We argue that progress has been impeded by the fact that software has not been developed and shared as a community. Recently, the situation has been changing. In this paper, the developers of a number of open-source software (OSS) projects highlight the potential of OSS to advance radar-related research. We argue that the community-based development of OSS holds the potential to reduce duplication of efforts and to create transparency in implemented algorithms while improving the quality and scope of the software. We also conclude that there is sufficiently mature technology to support collaboration across different software projects. This could allow for consolidation toward a set of interoperable software platforms, each designed to accommodate very specific user requirements.

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