Many enterprises are choosing to build their internal applications on top of an open source stack. But this article suggests that those who choose to do so should keep in mind five potential drawbacks:
- The cutting edge cuts both ways — Sometimes innovation works out great, but sometimes it doesn’t.
- Mindshare monopoly — If a single person or a small group controls an open source project, it can cause problems when they aren’t available.
- Service and support — Although many open source projects have commercial support, many do not.
- Long-term service and support — Some open-source projects don’t have enough developers on-board to make updates to older versions of their software.
- Project rot — Sometimes you find a great open source tool that hasn’t been updated in years because the developers no longer have time for the project.
