Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; Applications Development; and Open Source Policy
Fundamental Issues With Open Source Software Development
| Title: | Fundamental Issues With Open Source Software Development (ID: CSD3208) | | Author(s): | Michelle Levesque (University of Toronto) | | Source: | First Monday | | Origin: | Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2004) | | Type: | Articles, Papers, and Reports | | Abstract: | Despite the growing success of the Open Source movement, most of the general public continues to feel that Open Source software is inaccessible to them. This paper discusses five fundamental problems with the current Open Source software development trend, explores why these issues are holding the movement back, and offers solutions that might help overcome these problems. The lack of focus on user interface design causes users to prefer proprietary software's more intuitive interface. Open Source software tends to lack the complete and accessible documentation that retains users. Developers focus on features in their software, rather than ensuring that they have a solid core. Open Source programmers also tend to program with themselves as an intended audience, rather than the general public. Lastly, there is a widely known stubbornness by Open Source programmers in refusing to learn from what lessons proprietary software has to offer. If Open Source software wishes to become widely used and embraced by the general public, all five of these issues will have to be overcome. | | View this resource: | |
|
