Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of cross-platform software amidst a plethora of proprietary applications. The usability of open source software was once regarded as a reason limited distribution, but presently most of us use it but might not notice that it is open source. For example, the wordpress platform is used worldwide, currently with over 200 million users, and is cross-platform and open source (1). The existing evidence of the popularity of open source software and how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability is largely important in implementation. Currently, OSS is widely distributed to developers and the public via networked communities.
The thing with open source, especially free open source software, is its quality. There are millions of projects started and never finished. A look at SourceForge reveals that the majority of projects are abandoned. Good software is developed “when one or more very good programmers work closely full time together over a period of time developing, maintaining and improving it.” (2) Ultimately, distribution in the commercial world, especially corporate and government settings, is difficult because the available product does not meet the requirement standards. In contrast however, corporations support open source for competition against existing products. For example, IBM’s Lotus suite vs. Microsoft Office. The advantage is that if a corporation uses Lotus, it would be helping IBM against Microsoft. The disadvantage is that Lotus is vastly inferior to MS Office, and that just because IBM promotes (and financially supports) open source, it doesn’t mean it’s good for the individual developer and users as a whole.
As a former IBM employee, I would never recommend using Lotus because it is very buggy and compatibility issues get in the way of communicating with clients who is already using MS office. Interestingly, I had both Lotus and MS Office on my laptop when I was a consultant, but never used Lotus software because it simply isn’t as good as MS Office. We were forced to use Lotus Notes, however. When I worked at GE Financial, there was also an effort to try to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office. This also failed because even though we had programmers working on this software, the open source software was still unable to provide the stability and usability needed.
1) http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/03/20-most-popular-open-source-software-ever-2.html
2) http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/the_problems_of_open_source.htm
The thing with open source, especially free open source software, is its quality. There are millions of projects started and never finished. A look at SourceForge reveals that the majority of projects are abandoned. Good software is developed “when one or more very good programmers work closely full time together over a period of time developing, maintaining and improving it.” (2) Ultimately, distribution in the commercial world, especially corporate and government settings, is difficult because the available product does not meet the requirement standards. In contrast however, corporations support open source for competition against existing products. For example, IBM’s Lotus suite vs. Microsoft Office. The advantage is that if a corporation uses Lotus, it would be helping IBM against Microsoft. The disadvantage is that Lotus is vastly inferior to MS Office, and that just because IBM promotes (and financially supports) open source, it doesn’t mean it’s good for the individual developer and users as a whole.
As a former IBM employee, I would never recommend using Lotus because it is very buggy and compatibility issues get in the way of communicating with clients who is already using MS office. Interestingly, I had both Lotus and MS Office on my laptop when I was a consultant, but never used Lotus software because it simply isn’t as good as MS Office. We were forced to use Lotus Notes, however. When I worked at GE Financial, there was also an effort to try to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office. This also failed because even though we had programmers working on this software, the open source software was still unable to provide the stability and usability needed.
1) http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/03/20-most-popular-open-source-software-ever-2.html
2) http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/the_problems_of_open_source.htm
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