Linux best practices for suits [LWN.net]

Pronouncements from the Gartner Group have long been a good source of amusement (and anger) in the free software community. Gartner has often looked down on free software, claiming that it is not suitable for business use. Over the years, however, Gartner's position has softened. Their latest proclamation takes a different tack altogether. Now, rather than avoiding Linux, companies are advised to set up proper policies and "best practices." Some of their suggestions actually make some sense.

So what approach does Gartner suggest for the suits in the corner office? The highlights are:

Create formal guidelines describing the company's policy toward free software. The sort of company that Gartner presumes to advise will have such policies for every other aspect of its information technology operation. The creation of more rules with regard to free software is just the way these companies can be expected to operate.
Rather than applying blanket policies to free software in general, companies should look at individual applications to see whether they make sense or not. Such advice may seem obvious, but some people need to be told these things.
If the company is going to depend on a free application (and especially if the application needs an enhancement or two), somebody should be given the role of working with that application's development community. The company also needs to keep in mind that it does not control the project or its release schedules.
Gartner advises against making modifications to free software in general. The expectation, of course, is that the company has a support contract with somebody, and tweaking the software can render it unsupportable. Gartner makes an exception, however, for cases when the company has the requisite expertise and is willing to feed its changes back to the development community.
Care should be taken with regard to licensing, and especially in mixing GPL-licensed code with the company's own proprietary code. As Gartner notes, the resulting combination can only be distributed if the proprietary code, too, is made available under the GPL. Since this advice is aimed at big companies, Gartner recommends the formation of the inevitable "code licensing and definition committee" to oversee licensing policy and compliance. Some may see Gartner's caution as more "GPL FUD," but the SCO lawsuit shows how careful companies really have to be in this area.
Pay attention to standards and certification. Distributions should be certified by the Free Standards Group, and applications should be certified by the distribution vendor.
Make sure your staff is properly trained in corporate policy and working with the free software community. Gartner recommends having employees get LPI or SAIR certification (interestingly, they do not mention Red Hat's RHCE).

Perhaps the most significant point in all the above is that Gartner is advising companies to learn how to work with the free software development community. Free software is not just another shrink-wrapped product you buy from a store shelf or cologne-soaked salesman. It is the product of an active community which must be dealt with in its own way. Companies that work well with the development community will have a far better experience with that community's software. That is good advice.

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