Question 1

Less popular open source products are not likely to attract the community of users and contributors necessary to help improve these products over time. This situation reiterates the belief that _____ are a key to success.
A) proprietary products
B) brand strategies
C) network effects
D) technology expenses
E) advertising campaigns

Accepted Answer

Network effects refer to the phenomenon where a product or service gains additional value as more people use it. In the context of open source products, a larger community of users and contributors can significantly enhance the product's development and improvement, making network effects a key to success.

Question 2

Oracle, a firm that sells commercial ERP and database products, provides Linux for free, selling high-margin Linux support contracts for as much as five hundred thousand dollars. Oracle's motivation for this lies in:
A) accelerating the shift of open source software towards a proprietary regime.
B) using open source software to fuel sales of ware.
C) impoverishing other open source developers and furthering its own proprietary offerings.
D) using open source software to wean customers away from competitors.
E) protecting itself from the risks of distributing code while unaware of legal implications.

Accepted Answer

Oracle provides Linux for free to attract customers away from competitors, hoping they will purchase Oracle's high-margin support contracts, thus using open source software as a strategic tool to gain market share.

Question 3

Which of the following was considered a contributor to vulnerabilities in the OpenSSL security product, known as the Heartbleed bug:
A) Overseas hackers modified the open source code and uploaded a compromise version to the Internet, which became widely used.
B) Few developers were working on the project, so the ideal that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" wasn't met with OpenSSL.
C) Developers failed to see a major incompatibility with versions of the Windows operating system and Chrome browser.
D) There was no commercial entity overseeing the project.
E) A Linux update was not coordinated with OpenSSL, leaving a gaping hole when the two products were used together to transmit content over the Internet.

Accepted Answer

The Heartbleed bug was partly attributed to the fact that OpenSSL had very few developers working on it, which meant that the principle of "many eyes make all bugs shallow" was not effectively applied.

Question 4

For consumers in most industrialized nations, the added complexity and ____________availability of desktop Linux just it isn't worth the one to two hundred dollars saved by giving up Windows.

Accepted Answer

The answer of For consumers in most industrialized nations, the...

Question 5

Vendors who use open source as part of their product offerings can expect to bring new products to the market faster because:
A) open source products have lower product lifecycles.
B) the large number of people who look at the code help speed up product development.
C) they can skip whole segments of the software development process.
D) open source software programming is based on simpler code than commercial products.
E) the open source nature of the products ensures they don't have to conduct debugging tests.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Vendors who use open source as part...

Question 6

_______________ is the name of the popular service where you'll find millions of open source projects hosted and shared.

Accepted Answer

The answer of _______________ is the name of the popular...

Question 7

With SaaS, firms get the most basic offerings but can also do the most customization, putting their own tools (operating systems, databases, programming languages) on top.

Accepted Answer

SaaS (Software as a Service) typically offers a complete, managed application with limited customization options, as the software is hosted and maintained by the service provider, not the end user.

Question 8

Firms adopting OSS may be at risk if they distribute code and aren't aware of the licensing implications.

Accepted Answer

Open Source Software (OSS) licenses can have specific requirements about code distribution, and failure to comply can lead to legal issues or violations of the license terms.

Question 9

OpenCalendar is an open source e-mail software that competes with Outlook server

Accepted Answer

OpenCalendar is not an e-mail software; it is more likely to be associated with calendar or scheduling functionalities. Outlook, on the other hand, is a personal information manager from Microsoft, which includes e-mail capabilities among other features.

Question 10

All of the costs associated with the design, development, testing, implementation, documentation, training and maintenance of a software system are collectively termed as:
A) total cost of ownership.
B) economies of scale.
C) economic value added.
D) return on investment.
E) cost to company.

Accepted Answer

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) encompasses all the costs associated with the lifecycle of a software system, including design, development, testing, implementation, documentation, training, and maintenance.

Question 11

SaaS and the utility computing-style efforts differ widely in terms of the benefits and risks they offer.

Accepted Answer

The answer of SaaS and the utility computing-style efforts differ...

Question 12

Cloud computing refers to:
A) replacing computing resources with services provided over the Internet.
B) a technology that can make a single computer behave like many separate computers.
C) designing computers with many microprocessors that work together, simultaneously, to solve problems.
D) designing microprocessors with two or more calculating processor cores on the same piece of silicon.
E) manufacturing semiconductors as a stack of multiple, interconnected layers instead of in one flat plane.

Accepted Answer

Cloud computing involves using the Internet to provide computing services like servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence, thereby replacing traditional on-premises computing resources.

Question 13

Which of the following is one of the sources of revenue for open source vendors?
A) Licensing OSS for incorporation into subsequent open source products
B) Selling open source products at prices well below commercial products
C) Marketing versions of open source software masked as proprietary software
D) Claiming royalties on software based on open source code
E) Selling support and consulting services

Accepted Answer

Open source vendors often generate revenue by offering support, consulting services, and sometimes customization for their open source software. This is because the software itself is freely available, so they cannot rely on selling the software directly.

Question 14

Which of the following refers to a variant of utility computing where vendors provide the operating system and supporting software like database management systems but where client firms write their own code?
A) Platform as a service
B) Host service vendor
C)Software as a service
D) Application service provider
E) Infrastructure as a service

Accepted Answer

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app. This includes providing operating systems and supporting software like database management systems, while clients focus on writing their own code.

Question 15

Linux is one of the most used operating systems in desktop computers, but can be found only in a tiny fraction of mobile phones, and consumer electronics.

Accepted Answer

Linux is widely used in consumer electronics, smartphones (via Android, which is based on the Linux kernel), and various devices, not just desktop computers.

Question 16

Just about every type of commercial product has an open source equivalent.

Accepted Answer

Most commercial products have an open source equivalent, which is a free and open-source software that can be used for the same purpose as the commercial product.

Question 17

Why do firms prefer to use open source software products over conventional software?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why do firms prefer to use open...

Question 18

One area where open source software contributions have been virtually non-existent is in tools to support the massive file systems used in so-called Big Data projects.

Accepted Answer

Open source software contributions have been significant in the development of tools and frameworks for managing massive file systems in Big Data projects, such as Hadoop and its ecosystem.

Question 19

How has open source software had a disproportionate impact on the IT market?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How has open source software had a...

Question 20

_________is an OSS version of Microsoft Office.

Accepted Answer

The answer of _________is an OSS version of Microsoft Office....

Quiz 14: Software in Flux: Open Source, Cloud, Vittualized and App-Driven Shifts

Less popular open source products are not likely to attract the community of users and contributors necessary to help improve these products over time. This situation reiterates the belief that _____ are a key to success.

Oracle, a firm that sells commercial ERP and database products, provides Linux for free, selling high-margin Linux support contracts for as much as five hundred thousand dollars. Oracle's motivation for this lies in:

Which of the following was considered a contributor to vulnerabilities in the OpenSSL security product, known as the Heartbleed bug: