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Full Version: Choosing Open Source Software: how to tell the winners from the losers
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Quote: There are 139,834 open source projects under way on SourceForge, the popular open source hosting site. Five years from now, only a handful of those projects will be remembered for making lasting contributions--most will remain in niches, unnoticed by the rest of the world. For every Linux, Apache, or MySQL, dozens of other open source efforts fizzle out.

That's a dilemma for the many companies that are expanding their use of open source. Corporate developers and other IT professionals must get better at divining the winners and ignoring the losers. The wrong picks can lead companies down a rat hole of support problems and obsolete software...

full article: http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...=197002953&pgno=1&queryText=

The article includes a 9-point checklist on how to spot a successful Open Source project:
1. A thriving community 2. Disruptive goals 3. A benevolent dictator
4. Transparency 5. Civility 6. Documentation
7. Employed developers 8.  A clear license 9. Commercial support