How to find new open source software

How can I find listings of open source software that is ready for production use in a business?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register, my team of editors will also send you resources covering Linux administration and management; integration and interoperability between Linux, Windows and Unix; securing Linux and mixed-platform environments; and migrating to Linux.

    Cathleen A. Gagne, Senior Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchEnterpriseLinux.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchEnterpriseLinux.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

For years Open Source software listings had developers as their audience. More recently end-users are looking for software and now enterprise (medium and large businesses) IT departments have been searching the Internet for usable software.

A long-time directory of Free and Open Source software is the Open Directory http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/ and the Free Software Foundation has its directory at http://directory.fsf.org/

The OSDir.com directory at http://osdir.com/Downloads.phtml has user ratings of the software packages it lists.

Enterprise IT operations should be interested in the Enterprise Open Source Directory http://www.eosdirectory.com/ which lists itself as a beta site.

It is sponsored by Optaros, an integrator (http://www.optaros.com/) whose experience with the software in question has led them to list some 260 Open Source projects as either ready for enterprise IT or at least of interest to it. Based on this experience each project is given an Optaros Rating. The projects are further scored for their functionality, community strength and activity, maturity (stability), and general trend. The majority of the packages are increasing their scores over time, and Optaros solicits outsiders' experience and judgement on the software.

There is also a small library of enterprise-use case studies on the site.

This was first published in September 2007