When and why should developers select OpenSAF rather than a commercial middleware implementation?
Open source has proven itself to be a powerful model for software development in many areas. Ultimately, it’s hard to see why anyone would use anything other than an open source implementation that has broad backing and a robust ecosystem. It enables companies to leverage the work of others and contribute in specific areas where they have expertise or feel enhancement is necessary. This works particularly well in areas where functionality is essential, but is no longer a differentiating factor, such as with high availability. Open source is freely available to try out and even take to deployment. It has an accessible development community around the code base, and commercial distributions and support models are available in the marketplace. The choice of whether to adopt the code is really a business decision based on available resources, the cost to maintain the code in a specific environment, and time to market pressures. Ultimately, it comes down to a cost benefit analysis of “do-it
