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A joint effort including Intel, Carnegie Mellon West, and SpikeSource offers a model for rating software.

The Business Readiness Rating project proposes an open standard for assessing software in a standardized manner. The nascent project notes on its web site that it is in an open comment period, and wants public feedback on the initiative.

Tens of thousands of projects can be found available from a number of places online. But only a few ever get mentioned or reviewed in mainstream technology publications like InfoWorld. Many more could be of benefit to an enterprise, if they had some way to recommend them.

The BRR project notes on its web site that it wants to provide a "trusted, unbiased source" for assessing a given open source project. That assessment would include its suitability for use in an enterprise environment. A solid base of reviews will help more open source projects benefit businesses that may not otherwise consider a solution that doesn't come from CDW in a shrink-wrapped package.

Projects would be rated on functionality, quality, performance, security, and other factors. Those category ratings would be part of the calculation of the overall rating. Each category can be scored from 1 to 5, with 5 being an Excellent rating. Categories can be weighted depending on an enterprise's given need, such as security, as well.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.