Picking Wisely

There are huge gains to be had by choosing to use a third-party component vendor. But there are huge pitfalls as well. In his article "Selecting Third-Party Components," Richard Stafford explains that the time-saving benefits need to be weighed against the costs. The financial cost is an easy calculation. What's murkier is the cost of handling defects and changes in the component over time. And that, in turn, all boils down to how well the vendor supports the component. The upshot is that you really need to treat your choice of vendor the way you would treat the hiring of an in-house programmer. Research and references are your friends, here.

Posted by Kevin Carlson at 01:16 PM  Permalink