FAQs

Open Source FAQ

Why use open source?

The primary reason IT organizations turn to open source is cost: open source software comes without licensing fees. Other reasons include getting the latest in innovation, source code control, and vendor neutrality.

What are the differences between open source software, freeware and shareware?

Freeware refers to executables that are freely available for use, but unlike open source software the source code is not available nor is there a community or development infrastructure that supports contributions. Shareware is software that can be downloaded and evaluated for free, but users are supposed to pay when shareware is deployed.

Does that mean open source development is free?

No. The code is free, but any professional services used during development are priced the same as if using commercially available software. Most organizations that use open source, however, realize considerable savings across the life of the project.

Can open source software contain adware, spyware or viruses?

Open source projects are consistently free of adware, spyware and viruses. This is because the source code is available to everyone; if a developer were to add rogue code to a project it would be immediately visible to others in the community.

Is code quality sacrificed for innovation?

Typically not. Innovation comes from the fact that a large number of developers are contributing to the project, which means that a large number of developers are using, and therefore testing the project. In addition, because open source projects are not constrained to formal release schedules, bug fixes are made available almost immediately. In addition, companies like IONA provide open source product releases that have been tested and certified and are based on open source projects

Is open source software safe to use in the back office?

Absolutely. Linux and MySQL have proven that open source projects are enterprise class and can be used in mission-critical infrastructure and applications.

With all the contributions, how can one be assured of getting a stable and consistent release?

To address this concern companies like IONA are offering tested, certified and numbered releases of open source products that include the code from open source projects. These releases are open and are available at no cost.

Are professional services available for projects that use open source software?

Many firms offer support for projects that use open source software. IONA, who specializes developing SOA infrastructure for Fortune 2000 IT organizations, offers the same enterprise support for FUSE-based projects as they offer for they commercially licensed products.

What are licensing restrictions of open source software?

There is a range of open source licenses, and the Open Source Initiative is a good source for information on this topic. Two common open source licenses include:

Apache Software License – allows free use and distribution of the software and documentation. This is preferred by ISVs that incorporate open source software in their commercially available products.

GNU general Public license (GPL) / GNU Lesser general Public license (LGPL) – allows free use of the software and documentation, but users cannot redistribute it in their own products.

Can projects in incubation be used for mission-critical applications?

Absolutely. Apache’s criteria for graduating projects from incubation in no way reflects the quality of the code. It reflects the status of the community and whether it has established itself according to Apache guidelines. Developing and organizing the community takes time, often 1.5 years and longer. In the mean time, the code is often of production quality and is appropriate for enterprise use.

How widespread is open source software use?

Most analyst reports and industry surveys are consistent in saying that open source adoption is extensive and that the reaction has been positive: IDC’s recent study determined that open source software is used by over 70 percent of all developers worldwide, and IDC senior vice president of global software research Anthony Picardi claims that “the real impact of open source is to sustain innovations in mature software markets, thus extending the useful life of software assets and saving customers money.”

FUSE FAQ

When should I use the Apache projects, and when should I use FUSE?

The FUSE products are enterprise releases of Apache ServiceMix, Apache ActiveMQ, Apache CXF and Apache Camel. IONA’s tests, certifies and supports these releases. If you want to be on the bleeding edge of the project’s development, use the Apache version. If you need the stability and reliability of an enterprise release, use FUSE. For more information, read about the differences between the projects and FUSE.

How are the FUSE products different than the Apache projects that they are based on?

While the core code of each FUSE product is essentially identical to a particular release from an Apache project, there are many enhancements that the FUSE products provide. Enhancements fall into the categories of functional, support, testing, interoperability, and documentation. Functions may be added or modified by the IONA engineering team to meet a specific product requirement not yet supported in the open source project. For example, FUSE Services Framework includes a Spring-based container for use with Apache CXF that is not released as part of the Apache CXF project. From a support perspective, our engineering team selects stable releases of the code for which we can provide guaranteed response times and rapid patches to meet customers’ needs. Our patches are contributed back to the Apache community project. In terms of testing, we perform additional testing on our releases and also validate compatibility with complementary components such as Artix Orchestration. For interoperability, we test and provide demos to show users how to use FUSE products, and how they work together. We also provide documentation, as enterprise-quality documentation for our open source software has been a top request. Keep watching this site to see our documentation improve continuously.

Do you contribute your work on FUSE products back to the Apache projects?

Yes, we submit patches and other development back to the individual Apache projects as quickly as possible.

When should I use FUSE Services Framework?

Based on Apache CXF, FUSE Services Framework provides the ability to create web services on an existing or new application. Specifically, Java developers can use jax-ws, javascript, REST, or POJOs to create web services for a client or server endpoint. FUSE Services Framework can be used stand-alone, with FUSE Mediation Router, and can be deployed in a variety of containers like FUSE ESB, J2EE, Servlet, or Spring-based containers.

How does FUSE Services Framework, based on Apache CXF, support RESTful web services?

There is a great post on REST including a response from Dan Diephouse, author of CXF, detailing how CXF supports REST on InfoQ.

Why would I choose FUSE Services Framework, based on Apache CXF over Axis 2?

Dan Kulp and Dan Diephouse, both authors of CXF, responded to this question in a discussion on The Server Side , following the recent announcement of CXF 2.0.

When should I use FUSE Mediation Router?

Based on Apache Camel, FUSE Mediation Router makes it easy for Java developers to quickly implement integration patterns using a code-first approach using simple POJOs. The Camel API maps to the easy to understand Enterprise Integration Patterns, such that a developer with minimal integration skills can quickly create connector components that provide routing, mediation, and other integration capabilities. These components may leverage services that were created using the FUSE Services Framework. FUSE Mediation Router can be used stand-alone, with FUSE Services Framwework, and can deployed in a variety of containers like FUSE ESB, J2EE, Servlet, or Spring-based containers.

When should I use FUSE Message Broker?

Based on Apache ActiveMQ, FUSE Message Broker is a cost-effective and flexible messaging platform for reliably executing transactions and moving data, efficiently scaling operations, and connecting processes across heterogeneous database and application environments.

When should I use FUSE ESB?

Based on Apache ServiceMix, FUSE ESB provides a standardized methodology, server, and tools to deploy integration components. FUSE ESB was built from the ground up to support the JBI specification (JSR 208) and provides a structured environment to manage and deploy the components that developers create using FUSE Services Framework and FUSE Mediation Router as well as additional JBI-compliant components like BPEL. FUSE ESB uses FUSE Message Broker as its underlying messaging infrastructure.

Are the FUSE products integrated together?

The acquisition of LogicBlaze by IONA in April of 2007 brought together a unique skillset – the LogicBlaze expertise in Apache ActiveMQ and Apache ServiceMix and the new Apache Camel with IONA’s expertise in Apache CXF and Eclipse SOA Tools. We have been actively working on integrating these open source technologies together, and this integration will continue to evolve based on the most popular usage patterns by our users.

What do you recommend for BPEL?

The FUSE product line is designed to work with any standards-based orchestration engine. IONA supports Artix orchestration working with the FUSE product line, but we also anticipate that there will be integration and sample code with other BPEL components including ODE and Intalio’s offerings for example.

I have some questions about the installation process.

See the FUSE Product Installation Release Notes in the Documentation Section of open.iona.com. These Notes identify several known issues regarding product installation.

What if I want to use a FUSE product installer without the GUI in headless mode?

Run the installer with “-i console”, which will start it in console mode, no GUI required.