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ROI from Open Source in Test Automation

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Open Source

What Sort of Investment?

As Kurt Vonnegut famously said in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Everything, including Free and Open Source Software, has associated costs.

Before any discussion of Return on Investment, we need to arrive at a definition of required investment.

Products and Services - there are multiple ways to acquire open source software.

  • Download source code (or binaries) from a project repository, e.g., on GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket

  • Purchase a product built with open source

  • Subscribe to a SaaS implemented with open source

Support - type of support and channels for it are determined in large part by the acquisition path.

Tools - while many excellent tools are themselves opens source, an organized adoption program can require

Training - as with support, options of training and the necessity for it are predicated by acquisition path.

Staffing -

ROI from Open Source

Lower Acquisition Costs

Eliminate Vendor Lock-In

ROI from Open Source Test Automation