In New York at this week's LinuxWorld OpenSolutions Summit, experts have been advising attendees on what to look for and how to evaluate choices, and offering their real-world experiences with deploying open-source software inside their own operations.

Evaluate open-source just as you would any other software

As open-source software has moved away from the margins and into the hearts of corporate data centers -- and corporate IT thinking -- in recent years, it has systematically gained new converts and interest. That doesn't mean one size fits all, or even that open-source solutions are a fix for all existing IT problems, incompatibilities and shortcomings. Instead, open-source applications should be seen as one part of a company's overall IT portfolio.

That's the opinion of Andy Astor, CEO and president of EnterpriseDB, an open-source database vendor in Iselin, N.J., who spoke yesterday at the conference. "It's just a hammer," Astor said of open-source applications. "It will not build your house alone."

For corporate IT departments, open source and Linux can be sensible choices, he said. But using both still requires the same due diligence and research needed when selecting what proprietary software to deploy. "Don't forget how to run a project," Astor said. "Open source doesn't change that -- don't get sloppy."