Developing Open Cloud Native Microservices

Chapter 2. Open Technology Choices

In this chapter we’re going to look at open technology choices for cloud native Java applications. For us, “open” encompasses three principles, shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. Three principles of open technologies

We’ll start by talking about the role of open source, why it’s important to us, and how to evaluate candidate projects. Next, we’ll talk about the role of open standards, the benefits they provide, and their relationship to open source. We’ll then talk about open governance, its importance across both open source and open standards, and how it helps in building open communities.

We’ll show you how to use your new understanding of open source, standards, and governance to make informed open technology choices. Finally, we’ll describe the open technologies we’ve chosen to use in the subsequent chapters of this book.

Open Source

Most developers are aware of the concept of open source. It’s worthwhile, however, to distinguish between free software and open source software. The benefits of free (as in no cost) software are evident to all of us. It’s great to be able to use something without paying for it. It’s important, though, to understand if there are hidden costs to using “free” software. Quite often there are usage restrictions, such as time limits, that impact your ability to use the software as part of a solution.

In essence, ...