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I'm a senior java programmer and I'm used to building solutions from scratch. More often, though, I'm hearing people -- managers, clients, and other programmers -- suggesting we look for a COTS (Commerical Off The Shelf) solution.

Thing is, I know about programming, but I don't know about what COTS solutions are available or applicable to what I'm doing.

My question is, how should I best go about finding "COTS" solutions? Are there communities or a websites that focuses specifically on examining "COTS" solutions for programmers, or is it just like anything else, you google for existing products and hope to find a software application that does what you need?

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Rob

  • Is there a Craig's List for programmers/programs, I wonder? – JAB Jul 06 '12 at 12:48
  • @JAB I don't follow you, what do you mean? –  Jul 06 '12 at 12:51
  • I was just thinking that a site similar to Craigslist would be pretty useful for what you want. No clue if such a site exists, though. (Though if anything, SO or programmers.stackexchange might actually be your best bets for finding the sort of already-made software you desire. Perhaps StackExchange should have a COTS subdomain?) – JAB Jul 06 '12 at 13:02

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One of the things I can say for sure about using a COTS product is you must be given access to the API and documentation. Far to often people run into the issue of paying X for a package and then not utilizing it properly. The other way to go is open source, as it is free and you can modify it as you see fit. Generally you will need to google up the specifics of what you want and you can find side-by-side comparisons for similar products, these however should be taken with a grain of salt. Take the list of products and set up test beds in your environment to see which works best with your current tools and programs and go from there. Vendors often give 30-60 day free trials of their software for this reason.

Woot4Moo
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  • Forgive my ignorance, but I guess finding solutions are just a matter of googling and asking online "what's a good software or library do doing X & Y" -- do the research, ask questions, and so on? I guess I thought there might be a specific community for "COTS" style products like the way there are communities of java programmers helping each other with java problems. :) –  Jul 06 '12 at 12:54
  • @RobertHume if there are I am unfamiliar with them. Mathematically speaking how many people have used COTS software and are not under an NDA or are not bound by contract to only communicate with the vendor? I would venture a guess that those numbers are quite low :( . It seems the old faithful way of do some research and ask questions is the way to go sadly. – Woot4Moo Jul 06 '12 at 12:58
  • "how many people have used COTS software and are not under an NDA or are not bound by contract to only communicate with the vendor?" I would think that most NDAs would apply to the software being developed rather than the COTS software. Then again I have no real experience in the business world, so I guess it's entirely possible that some businesses would have such irrational/inefficient practices as preventing their employees or customers from discussing the products they use even if they aren't discussing what they're using those products for.But source code would likely be a different issue – JAB Jul 06 '12 at 13:05
  • @Jab you would be surprised the amount of fear that organizations have. Sometimes it is justified especially if I know company X (my competitor in the pharma community) uses COTS product Y and I have an undisclosed vulnerability against it – Woot4Moo Jul 06 '12 at 13:45