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<h1>Boost Background Information</h1>
<h2>Why should an organization use Boost?</h2>
<p>
In a word, <i><b>Productivity</b></i>. Use of high-quality libraries like
Boost speeds initial development, results in fewer bugs,
reduces reinvention-of-the-wheel, and cuts long-term maintenance costs. And
since Boost libraries tend to become de facto or de jure standards, many
programmers are already familiar with them.</p>
<p>
Ten of the Boost libraries are included in the
<a href="http://open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/library_technical_report.html">
C++ Standard Library's TR1</a>, and so are slated for later full
standardization. More Boost libraries are in the pipeline for
<a href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1810.html">TR2</a>.
Using Boost libraries gives an organization a head-start in adopting new
technologies.</p>
<p>
Many organization already use programs implemented with
Boost, like Adobe <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html">Acrobat
Reader 7.0</a>.</p>
<h2>Who else is using Boost?</h2>
<p>See the <a href="../doc/html/who_s_using_boost_.html">
Who's Using Boost page</a> for a sampling. We don't know the exact numbers, but
a release gets around 100,000 downloads from SourceForge, and that is only one
of several distribution routes.</p>
<h2>What do others say about Boost?</h2>
<p> <i><b>"...one of the most highly regarded and expertly
designed C++ library projects in the world."</b></i></p>
<blockquote>
<p>-- <a href="http://www.gotw.ca/">Herb Sutter</a> and
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Alexandrescu">Andrei Alexandrescu</a>,
<a href="http://safari.awprofessional.com/?XmlId=0321113586">C++ Coding
Standards</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<p> <b><i>"Item 55: Familiarize yourself with Boost."</i></b></p>
<blockquote>
<p>-- <a href="http://www.aristeia.com/">Scott Meyers</a>,
<a href="http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-321-33487-6/">Effective C++, 3rd Ed.</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<p> <i><b>"The obvious solution for most
programmers is to use a library that provides an elegant and efficient
platform independent to needed services. Examples are BOOST..."</b></i></p>
<blockquote>
<p>--<i><b> </b></i><a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/">Bjarne Stroustrup</a>,
<a href="http://www.research.att.com/~bs/abstraction.pdf">Abstraction,
libraries, and efficiency in C++</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How do users get support?</h2>
<p>For relatively straightforward support needs, users rely on the
<a href="mailing_lists.htm">mailing lists</a>. One of the
advantages of Boost is the responsiveness of other users and Boost
developers.</p>
<p>For more involved needs, <a href="links.htm#CommercialSupport">
Commercial Support</a> is available.</p>
<h2>What about license issues?</h2>
<p>Boost has its own <a href="license_info.html">license</a>, developed
with help from the Harvard Law School. The
<a href="license_info.html">Boost license polices</a> encourage both
commercial and non-commercial use, and the Boost license is not related to the
GPL or other licenses - that are sometimes seen as business unfriendly.</p>
<h2>What about other intellectual property issues?</h2>
<p>The Boost libraries tend to be new, fresh, and creative designs. They are not
copies, clones, or derivations of proprietary libraries. Boost has a firm policy
to respect the IP rights of others. The development of Boost libraries is
publicly documented via the mailing lists and version control repository. The
source code has been inspected by many, many knowledgeable programmers. Each
Boost file has a copyright notice and license information. IP issues have been
reviewed by the legal teams from some of the corporations which use Boost, and
in some cases these lawyers have been kind enough to give Boost feedback on IP
issues. There are no guarantees, but those factors all tend to reduce IP risk.</p>
<h2>Why would anyone give away valuable software for free?</h2>
<p>Businesses and other organizations often prefer to have code developed,
maintained, and improved in the open source community when it does not contain
technology specific to their application domain, because it allows them to focus
more development resources on their core business.</p>
<p>Individuals contribute for the technical challenge, to hone their technical
skills, for the sense of community, as part of their graduate school programs,
as a way around geographic isolation, to enhance their employment opportunities,
and as advertisements for their consulting services. There are probably as many
reasons as there are individuals. Some of the apparently individual
contributions come from employees of support companies with contracts from
businesses or other organizations who have an interest in seeing that a library
is well-maintained.</p>
<h2>Who pays Boost's expenses?</h2>
<p>Boost doesn't really have any expenses! All the infrastructure is contributed
by supporters, such as the <a href="http://www.osl.iu.edu/">Open Systems Lab</a>
at Indiana University, <a href="http://sourceforge.net/index.php">
SourceForge</a>, <a href="http://www.boost-consulting.com/">Boost Consulting</a>,
<a href="http://www.meta-comm.com/">MetaCommunications</a>, and the
individuals, companies, and other organizations who run the regression tests.
Borland, HP, Intel, and Microsoft have contributed compilers. And hundreds, or
even thousands, of programmers contribute their time. That's what makes Boost
possible.</p>
<hr>
<p>
Revised
<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED"
s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->07 July, 2005<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="21138" --></p>
<p>
© Copyright Beman Dawes 2005.</p>
<p>
Use, modification, and distribution are subject to the Boost Software License,
Version 1.0. (See accompanying file
<a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>
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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