5 Ways to Be Successful with Open Source Software in 2017

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Image: JuralMin/Pixabay

Because of my long-standing association with the Apache Software Foundation, I’m often asked the question, “What’s next for open source technology?” My typical response is variations of “I don’t know” to “the possibilities are endless.”

Over the past year, we’ve seen open source make strong inroads into the mainstream of enterprise technology with use cases in traditional industries such as manufacturing, telecom and finance. They have all taken hold of the powers of the open source ecosystem, not only to improve customer experience and grow the bottom line, but also to support work toward the greater good of society through genomic research, precision medicine and programs to stop human trafficking, as just a few examples. 

Below I’ve listed five tips for folks who are curious about how to begin working with open source and what to expect from the ever-changing ecosystem.

Doug Cutting is a founder of numerous successful open source projects, including Apache Lucene, Apache Avro, and Apache Hadoop. Doug joined Cloudera in 2009 from Yahoo!, where he was a key member of the team that built and deployed a production Hadoop storage-and-analysis cluster for business analytics. Doug holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and served for six years on the Apache Software Foundation's Board of Directors. 

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