DigiThoughts

The Towering Totems of Open Source Software

June 24, 2011 by Dustin Currie

Building software is hard. Only an elite few organizations can genuinely qualify as proficient in creating software. Most groups struggle and plod along. Google the Standish Group's yearly CHAOS report to see just how common mediocre and expensive IT projects are.  If you aren't already familiar with the CHAOS report or a seasoned IT vet, you'll be stunned. As of 2009, 44% of projects are "challenged" -- meaning they are some combination of over budget, late or feature incomplete. Twenty-four percent get cancelled altogether.  Sixty-eight percent of software projects are not successfully deployed. Worse still, only a subset of the projects successfully deployed will deliver or exceed the anticipated results!

Software is expensive, extremely risky and - no matter your industry -- no longer an optional part of business.

Still, even with these challenges, the world of software is extremely bright. Why? Because software development isn't silo'd.

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