More free code for the asking at Koders.com

Tony Austin
Thursday, 25 September 2008 06:01

Opinion and Analysis

"We’re also working to augment Koders with code and metadata from the Black Duck KnowledgeBase—the most comprehensive database of information on open source software containing literally tens of billions of lines of code. Koders returns the highest quality code search results of any tool today."

"When used with other Black Duck offerings—Code Center for finding, tracking and selecting open source and Protex for validation and compliance—customers benefit from the most complete solution for incorporating open source into the software development lifecycle.”

Good on them, I say. There are some who shudder when they see free software. In any way, tied up with commercial or proprietary software.

I'm not one of those. We've all got to make a living, and it doesn't disturb me in the slightest to seea commercial enterprise such as Black Duck supports a free service like Koders.

Quite a few software houses hand out freebies, and whether this is pure altruism or a marketing ploy, I reckon it's a good thing. Hey, I even do it myself: I offer a commercial Lotus Notes development tool, and give away several free Lotus Notes database applications.

A bit of commercialism is not a bad thing, provided it's neither obnoxious nor overdone. Modesty in all things, as the old saying goes.

I suspect that fellow iTWire writer Sam Varghese might disagree with me on this! See, for example, his recent piece Ubuntu loses its virginity, turns commercial and the vigorous reader reaction.

To finish, I have a request for iTWire readers: With this article. I'm dipping my toes in the water to discover if there's any interest in the IT readership community for in-depth coverage of programming/coding and related "techie" matters. Does this strike a chord with any of you?

Please use the iTWire discussion forum to let me know if you'd like to see more more coverage of such software design and development topics, and I'll make sure to include it for you. Make sure you let me know what you'd like to see -- database, IDEs and languages, usability, or whatever -- you name it, and I'll track down tips/techniques and deeper coverage for you.