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8<title>Boost Background Information</title>
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16               <img src="../boost.png" alt="boost.png (6897 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
17            <td><a href="../index.htm"><font color="#ffffff" size="4" face="Arial">Home</font></a></td>
18            <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font color="#ffffff" size="4" face="Arial">Libraries</font></a></td>
19            <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font color="#ffffff" size="4" face="Arial">People</font></a></td>
20            <td><a href="../more/faq.htm"><font color="#ffffff" size="4" face="Arial">FAQ</font></a></td>
21            <td><a href="../more/index.htm"><font color="#ffffff" size="4" face="Arial">More</font></a></td>
22         </tr>
23      </table>
24      <h1>Boost Background Information</h1>
25<h2>Why should an organization use Boost?</h2>
26<p>
27In a word, <i><b>Productivity</b></i>. Use of high-quality libraries like
28Boost speeds initial development,  results in fewer bugs,
29reduces reinvention-of-the-wheel, and cuts long-term maintenance costs. And
30since Boost libraries tend to become de facto or de jure standards, many
31programmers are already familiar with them.</p>
32<p>
33Ten of the Boost libraries are included in the
34<a href="http://open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/library_technical_report.html">
35C++ Standard Library's TR1</a>, and so are slated for later full
36standardization. More Boost libraries are in the pipeline for
37<a href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1810.html">TR2</a>.
38Using Boost libraries gives an organization a head-start in adopting new
39technologies.</p>
40<p>
41Many organization already use programs implemented with
42Boost, like Adobe <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html">Acrobat
43Reader 7.0</a>.</p>
44<h2>Who else is using Boost?</h2>
45<p>See the <a href="../doc/html/who_s_using_boost_.html">
46Who's Using Boost page</a> for a sampling. We don't know the exact numbers, but
47a release gets around 100,000 downloads from SourceForge, and that is only one
48of several distribution routes.</p>
49<h2>What do others say about Boost?</h2>
50<p> <i><b>&quot;...one of the most highly regarded and expertly
51designed C++ library projects in the world.&quot;</b></i></p>
52      <blockquote>
53<p>-- <a href="http://www.gotw.ca/">Herb Sutter</a> and
54<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Alexandrescu">Andrei Alexandrescu</a>,
55<a href="http://safari.awprofessional.com/?XmlId=0321113586">C++ Coding
56Standards</a> </p>
57      </blockquote>
58<p> <b><i>&quot;Item 55: Familiarize yourself with Boost.&quot;</i></b></p>
59      <blockquote>
60<p>-- <a href="http://www.aristeia.com/">Scott Meyers</a>,
61<a href="http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-321-33487-6/">Effective C++, 3rd Ed.</a> </p>
62      </blockquote>
63<p> <i><b>&quot;The obvious solution for most
64programmers is to use a library that provides an elegant and efficient
65platform independent to needed services. Examples are BOOST...&quot;</b></i></p>
66      <blockquote>
67<p>--<i><b> </b></i><a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/">Bjarne Stroustrup</a>,
68<a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/abstraction.pdf">Abstraction,
69libraries, and efficiency in C++</a> </p>
70      </blockquote>
71<h2>How do users get support?</h2>
72<p>For relatively straightforward support needs, users rely on the
73<a href="mailing_lists.htm">mailing lists</a>. One of the
74advantages of Boost is the responsiveness of other users and Boost
75developers.</p>
76<p>For more involved needs, <a href="links.htm#CommercialSupport">
77Commercial Support</a> is available.</p>
78<h2>What about license issues?</h2>
79<p>Boost has its own <a href="license_info.html">license</a>, developed
80with help from the Harvard Law School.&nbsp; The
81<a href="license_info.html">Boost license polices</a> encourage both
82commercial and non-commercial use, and the Boost license is not related to the
83GPL or other licenses - that are sometimes seen as business unfriendly.</p>
84<h2>What about other intellectual property issues?</h2>
85<p>The Boost libraries tend to be new, fresh, and creative designs. They are not
86copies, clones, or derivations of proprietary libraries. Boost has a firm policy
87to respect the IP rights of others. The development of Boost libraries is
88publicly documented via the mailing lists and version control repository. The
89source code has been inspected by many, many knowledgeable programmers. Each
90Boost file has a copyright notice and license information. IP issues have been
91reviewed by the legal teams from some of the corporations which use Boost, and
92in some cases these lawyers have been kind enough to give Boost feedback on IP
93issues. There are no guarantees, but those factors all tend to reduce IP risk.</p>
94<h2>Why would anyone give away valuable software for free?</h2>
95<p>Businesses and other organizations often prefer to have code developed,
96maintained, and improved in the open source community when it does not contain
97technology specific to their application domain, because it allows them to focus
98more development resources on their core business.</p>
99<p>Individuals contribute for the technical challenge, to hone their technical
100skills, for the sense of community, as part of their graduate school programs,
101as a way around geographic isolation, to enhance their employment opportunities,
102and as advertisements for their consulting services. There are probably as many
103reasons as there are individuals. Some of the apparently individual
104contributions come from employees of support companies with contracts from
105businesses or other organizations who have an interest in seeing that a library
106is well-maintained.</p>
107<h2>Who pays Boost's expenses?</h2>
108<p>Boost doesn't really have any expenses! All the infrastructure is contributed
109by supporters, such as the <a href="http://www.osl.iu.edu/">Open Systems Lab</a> 
110at Indiana University,&nbsp; <a href="http://sourceforge.net/index.php">
111SourceForge</a>, <a href="http://www.boost-consulting.com/">Boost Consulting</a>,
112<a href="http://www.meta-comm.com/">MetaCommunications</a>, and the
113individuals, companies, and other organizations who run the regression tests.
114Borland, HP, Intel, and Microsoft have contributed compilers. And hundreds, or
115even thousands, of programmers contribute their time. That's what makes Boost
116possible.</p>
117      <hr>
118      <p>
119         Revised
120         <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED"
121s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->07 July, 2005<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="21138" --></p>
122      <p>
123         © Copyright Beman Dawes 2005.</p>
124      <p>
125         Use, modification, and distribution are subject to the Boost Software License,
126         Version 1.0. (See accompanying file
127         <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>
128         or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</p>
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