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The Business Case for Open Source/Asterisk

The Business Case for Open Source/Asterisk. Alex Vishnev Chief Technical Officer ACN. Benefits of Open Source. Build using open standards Best Breed Architectural Design Collaboration of many individuals on a product that could not be achieved alone Rapid bug-fixes and Changes

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The Business Case for Open Source/Asterisk

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  1. The Business Case for Open Source/Asterisk Alex Vishnev Chief Technical Officer ACN

  2. Benefits of Open Source • Build using open standards • Best Breed Architectural Design • Collaboration of many individuals on a product that could not be achieved alone • Rapid bug-fixes and Changes • Increased Security • code is in the public view it will be exposed to extreme scrutiny • problems being found and fixed instead of being kept secret for job security or other reasons • All these benefits are fundamental in increased reliability.

  3. Reliability Problem If builders built houses the way programmers built programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization Gerald P. Weinberg

  4. But The Latest Results… • DNS • sendmail • Open Source TCP/IP stacks and utility suites • Apache • Perl Since the founding of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in 1998, open source programs have demonstrated an astonishing level of reliability and robustness under fast-changing conditions even when compared to the best closed commercial software.

  5. …And a Further Example • Who would have thought that a world-class operating system could be done by several thousand part time developers/hackers scattered all over the planet, connected only by the tenuous strands of the Internet? • Linus Torvalds's style of development • release early and often • delegate everything you can • be open • resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches

  6. SOURCE CODE CONTRIBUTIONS • Process • Source Code Reviewers/Code Marshals • Committers • Testers • Repositories • SourceForge, Freshmeat, etc • Svn/cvs – source code control • Download and Mirrors • Email • Bug Tracking

  7. Why Developers Contribute? • Certainly not for $$$$ ;-) • Every Good Work of Software Starts by Scratching a Developer's Personal Itch. • Is it Glory? • Is it Recognition? • Or Is it Simply “I Can Do Better!!!!”

  8. Basic Rules • Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse). • If you Want to Get it Right, Be Ready to Start Over at Least Once • Treating users as co-developers is best route to rapid code improvement and effective debugging.

  9. Licenses • OSI(Open Source Initiative) - First Stop to Determine the Right License • GPL - GPL prohibits proprietary patents related to modifications of the software, prohibits royalties, and requires that the same terms be attached when redistributing the software or a derivative of it. • LGPL is used to license free software so that it can be incorporated into both free software and proprietary software. • requirement that you open up the source code to your own extensions to the software is removed. • LGPL code can be included within a larger proprietary software package.

  10. Licenses • BSD, MIT, Apache –licenses are all permissive allowing free distribution, modifying, and license change • LGPL – allows free distribution, modifying and license change if bundled as a whole into new work; derivative works must be under LGPL or GPL • GPL – allows free distribution and modifying but all bundled and derivative works must be under GNU GPL • Commercial – allows the use of software only in specific circumstances and hence these may be called all restrictive licenses • http://www.opensource.org

  11. History of Asterisk • After seeing the accomplishments of D’lcaza and Miller at the 1998 Atlanta Linux Showcase, Mark Spencer focused his energies on doing something big to help Open Source. • He started a Linux support business and created the first version of Asterisk, on Linux, to have a PBX with the features he needed, but not the big PBX cost. • Asterisk was originally not particularly useful to others outside of his own needs • In 1999 he rewrote Asterisk in the form we see today and committed it to the Open Source community. • Later, community contributions added support for more industry-standard telephony hardware and VoIP • Over 250,000 users and over 300 contributors to date • Asterisk is licensed under the GPL

  12. Resources • Mailing List (users, developers, biz) • http://www.voip-info.org ( Wiki resource) • http://www.asteriskdocs.org • O’Reilly Book Download • (http://www.asteriskdocs.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=11) • Astricon – Paid Training/Certification • IRC

  13. Q&A Alex Vishnev Chief Technical Officer, VoIP 13620 Reese Blvd. Ste. 400 Huntersville, NC 28078 Office (704) 632-3682 Mobile (704) 778-7260 Fax (704) 947-7112 Email avishnev@acninc.com Website http://www.acninc.com

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