Five must-read e-books on open source

Every day more companies and developers decide to join the trend of working with open solutions. This selection of five e-books will bring you up to date and help you learn more about the regulation, use, advantages and fundamental role of open source as an engine for innovation.
Five must-read e-books on open source
Five must-read e-books on open source

BBVA API Market

Every day more companies and developers decide to join the trend of working with open solutions. This selection of five e-books will bring you up to date and help you learn more about the regulation, use, advantages and fundamental role of open source as an engine for innovation.

Every day more companies and developers decide to join the trend of working with open solutions. In fact, multinationals like Apple, LVMH, Carrefour, Gas Natural Fenosa, Telefónica and BBVA are already making use of these “free” technologies.

The reason is simple and the advantages of open source are clear: reduction of expenses associated with licenses, elimination of dependence on software sellers, educational advantages thanks to collaboration, increased security, and greater quality. This article highlights some useful resources to know more about the subject.

1. For beginners

Opensource.com collects the articles it publishes on its site in the form of e-books. One that is of particular interest is A guide for beginners in open source, also called How to get started with open source.

This e-book is a good tool for getting started, whether you are a developer or represent an organization that is looking for free and open alternatives to grow its business. It includes articles ranging from how experts discovered open source to how its supporters have flourished since then. It also includes guides to help you find the right software.

2. For learning how to use it

The Linux Foundation  has recently published the e-book Open Source Software Basics. It is a guide that is available free of charge and designed for executives to understand how open source can help their business. In fact, it has been issued because the Linux Foundation realized the need to educate business executives on the open source ecosystem, its software, benefits and licenses.

“The benefits of adopting and contributing back to open source are immense, but more education is required to fully realize those advantages. Initiatives such as the Open Source Software Basics publication are part of the Linux Foundation’s effort to increase accessibility to this education,” explains Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, in a statement.

The free publication covers subjects such as what open source software is, why companies use FLOSS technologies, and why they are quicker, less costly and more flexible. This book targets above all business executives, the legal teams, software developers, product managers and software architects.

3. For learning how it has developed and analyzing its advantages

BBVAOpen4u also has an e-book on Open Source. It contains a great deal of information, but at the same time is fairly analytical. As well as including what free software is, its history, models and the evolution from private to open-source software, it explains the most commonly held misconceptions, as well as a number of truths and lies about it.

It includes the tools, its milestones, testimonies, infographics, etc., as well as dealing with its role as an engine of innovation and its enriching combination with big data. You can also download it for free. It is indeed interesting if you want to learn more about the philosophy of open source for the first time, or want to extend your knowledge.

4. For more in-depth information about regulatory compliance

The Linux Foundation also published another very interesting e-book at the end of 2016 on open source. It is called Open Source Compliance in the Enterprise, and is a practical guide for organizations on the best way of using open code and participating in specialized communities, complying with its spirit and license.

Written by Ibrahim Haddad, head of the open-code group at Samsung Research America, it aims to improve understanding of the problems related to the concession of licenses, the development and the reuse of open source software.

The chapters in the book guide readers through the process of regulatory compliance with open source, including an introduction to the subject, a description of how to establish an open-code administration program in your organization, and a general overview of the main roles.

5. For discovering the latest news and trends

The e-book OpenExpo Tendencias Open Source y Software Libre 2017 (OpenExpo Open Source and Free Software Trends 2017) is a study carried out with the collaboration of 40 professionals in the sector. It explains what aspects will boost the use of FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source) technologies in 2017.

The book also includes opinions from experts such as Alberto Morgante, Cloud Computing and Innovation Engineer at BBVA; Javier Pardo, Head of IT Innovation at Gas Natural Fenosa and Francisco Javier Ramón, Head of the Network Virtualization Initiative at Telefónica’s CTO Unit, and others.

Check out the BBVAOpen4u e-book on open source

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