Open source, open standards

When people speak of open source software they arc referring to computer code-programs that run. But code is only the final step in the information technology process. Prior to Writing code the information technology professional must do analysis to determine the nature of the problem to be solved and the best way to solve it. When software projects fail, the failure is more often than not attributable to shortcomings in the planning and analysis phase rather than in the coding itself. Open source software provides sonic particular challenges for planning since the code itself will be worked on by different programmers and will evolve over time. The success of all open source project will clearly depend on the clarity of the shared vision of the goals of the software and some strong definitions of basic fuctions and how they will work. This all-important work of defining often takes place through standards and the development of standards that everyone can use has become a movement in itself. open standards.