Evaluation criteria for free/open source software products based on project analysis

Today many companies decide to select free/open source software (F/OSS) products for various reasons, for example, economical or quality reasons. For many areas of application, they can choose from a variety of packages provided by different communities. Introducing a software tool into a company – either for supporting a certain business process or for the development of its own products – may be more or less critical depending on the application, which may range from explorative to mission critical. One of the most crucial problems in the usage of F/OSS is the actual decision to use a particular product. Although this is rather similar to the usual investment decisions, the consequences of an involvement in a software project are frequently underestimated. Whether a certain package is appropriate for the intended purposes in the given environment and is suitable to the overall business goals of the company is usually not determined systematically, but often arbitrarily. However, many important hints resulting from the development context of an F/OSS product as well as other technical and economical considerations could be helpful to make the product decision process more transparent and deterministic. In this article, we give a systematic approach for supporting a decision to incorporate a particular F/OSS product into an enterprise. Systematic decision support is provided by a rational approach that facilitates evaluating and interpreting the relevant project circumstances of an F/OSS product to be chosen. By this means, F/OSS projects can be critically reviewed in the light of the particular product requirements of the choosing organisation. The article addresses software managers and engineers in industry and academia. Copyright  2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.