Fundamental Issues with Open Source Software Development

"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." Open Source software is another term for free software. Dictionary.com defines Open Source as "a method and philosophy for software licensing and distribution designed to encourage use and improvement of software written by volunteers by ensuring that anyone can copy the source code and modify it freely."

Published in First Monday in April 2004, this paper aims to discuss 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.

1. User interface design

According to the author, the lack of focus on user interface design causes users to prefer proprietary software's more intuitive interface.

2. Documentation

Open Source projects tend to lack complete, up-to-date and easily accessible documentation.

3. Feature–centric development

"Developers focus on features in their software, rather than ensuring that they have a solid core."

4. Programming for the self

"Open Source programmers also tend to create projects with themselves as an intended audience, rather than the general public."

5. Religious blindness

"There is a widely known stubbornness by Open Source programmers in refusing to learn from what lessons proprietary software has to offer."

Click here for the full paper online.