User satisfaction has always been a major factor in the success of software, regardless of whether it is closed proprietary or open source software oss. Ive been reading an article called usability and open source software article and it has a lot of interesting points. Open source software oss has spread so swiftly that it now rivals commercial software systems in terms of deployment. Opensource projects open source is a term to describe the tradition of open standards, shared source code, and collaborative development 6 behind software such as the linux operating system. One of the reasons was due to the vague defect descriptions that could not convince developers about the validity of usability issues. Adapting usability techniques for application in open. Aug 05, 2014 among thousands of open source software projects these 10 open source softwares listed below are the most important and valuable. Special issue on freeopen source software processes. List of academic research on usability in foss github. Citeseerx document details isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda. Special issue on free open source software processes. Usability in open source software considering usability as a research area in oss that needs to be examined, hedberg et al. Top 10 best open source softwares that rocks world wide web.
Applying a usability technique in the open source software. Usability testing for opensource software projects doesnt need to be performed in a stuffy lab environment. Mar 28, 2017 in an environment where data standards, interoperability, and apis have become all the rage, open source software could still rise to a certain level of prominence as providers continue their ongoing quest for the most effective ehrs that deliver a high degree of usability, customization, and opportunities for collaborative improvement. In spring 2007, paula bach joined microsoft as a ph. How openstack continues to be one of the top three most active open source projects was posted on january 27th, 2020 at 4.
Among thousands of open source software projects these 10 open source softwares listed below are the most important and valuable. Even though we do not presume that oss always has poor usability, as there are examples of good usable open source software, it would still be agreed that oss usability has room for further improvement. Open source software oss is thus no longer a reserved. An open source usability maturity model osumm computers. Introduction the term open source software refers to software equipped. These are rare software product that has no alternatives and must require. Usability processes in open source projects university of. Jim is also very active in usability testing for open source software projects like gnome. When we started open usability in 2005, experienced usability ux interaction experts were scarce.
Nonetheless, there is great potential for large corporations to contribute to open source projects. Although users of the internet indirectly rely on several of these programs, most computer users never directly use a piece of opensource software. Perceptions and practices of usability in the freeopen. The software, also called evergreen, is used by libraries to provide their public catalog interface as well as to manage backofhouse operations such as circulation checkouts and checkins, acquisition and cataloging of library materials, and sharing resources among. Introduction in the last ten years, open source software oss has attracted the attention of not only the practitioner, but also the business and the research communities. The decentralized and engineeringdriven approach of open source projects can be at odds with corporate processes and usability engineering methodologies. Twidale, usability processes in open source projects. User satisfaction has always been important for software success whether it is open source software oss or closed proprietary software. The unlimited number of opensource software oss users and the importance of end users experience in determining software quality make usability an even more critical quality attribute for oss than it is for proprietary software.
Usability is an important quality characteristic of software products and information systems. A case study on open source projects usability is one of the software qualities attributes that is subjective and often considered as a less critical defect to be fixed. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that the studied key factors play a signi. When we started open usability in 2005, experienced usabilityux interaction experts were scarce. First released in 2003, buildbot is used by leading software projects around the world to automate all aspects of their software development cycle. They see a great potential for usability experts to contribute towards oss development. Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the use of open source projects by common novice users. Linux, apache, perl, sendmail, bind, tcltk and python. In an environment where data standards, interoperability, and apis have become all the rage, open source software could still rise to a certain level of prominence as providers continue their ongoing quest for the most effective ehrs that deliver a high degree of usability, customization, and opportunities for collaborative improvement. We describe the mechanisms, techniques and technology used by open source communities to design and refine the interfaces to their programs. As open source software releases and customer adoption continue to increase, many companies underestimate whats involved with going open source.
This tool would have to incorporate the latest best practices in the industry and, ideally, be released under an open source license so we can eliminate lengthy processes and reduce costs. Open source software oss, or freeopen source software, foss is becoming increasingly visible in current software landscape. Pdf usability in open source software researchgate. The usability of open source software is often regarded. An empirical study of open source software usability. Different approaches for introducing usability activities into open source software oss development. Related to my yesterday rant about qgis and usability. Welcome new members to the openstack technical committee. Projects place their source code in the public domain. Apache and firefox may be thoroughly and methodically tested because of the size of its user base and because employers may be willing to pay testers to test it. Given these considerations, as well as other requirements, we decided that building from scratch was the responsible choice.
We explore how some open source projects address issues of usability. Usability in open source software by celeste lyn paul celeste lyn paul is sen ior interaction architect for usercentered design, i nc. Usability processes in open source projects request pdf. This point is important since most oss projects are onedeveloper projects, while the large and wellknown oss projects typically have a dedicated usability or ux team.
Recently, microsoft research and the open source software lab ossl partnered with penn state university psu to study usability design in open source projects. This paper presents results from a study examining perceptions and practices of usability in the freeopen source software foss community. List of academic research on usability work and open source culture. Software process improvement and practice 11 2006 149162. Usability processes in open source projects university. The linux kernel is a prominent example of free and open source software.
How to contribute to open source open source guides. Introducing usability activities into open source software. I did this both to demonstrate the usability test process and to. Usability testing for open source software projects doesnt need to be performed in a stuffy lab environment. In this paper we explore how open source projects address issues of usability. For example, the open source web content management system drupal streamed testers desktops as they undertook a usability test. Although users of the internet indirectly rely on several of these programs, most computer users never directly use a piece of open source software. Oss communities do not generally know how to apply usability techniques and are unclear about which techniques to use in each activity of the development process. How do the open source communities address usability. Abstract we explore how some open source projects address issues of usability.
Some oss communities nowadays do not have processes in place to guarantee that, taking into account the features of this community as a whole, the developed software is good. The evergreen project develops an open source ils integrated library system used by hundreds of libraries across the world. However, most open source projects rely on volunteers who tend to test only the aspects of the project that they care about. Open source compliance projects unite under new act group. Although there are many highly professionalized open source communities e. In our annual list of the years top open source projects, we look back at popular projects our writers covered in 2016, plus favorites our community moderators picked. Its goal is to make developers aware of the importance of usability, provide information on usability, and improve the usability of oss. Usability processes in open source projects nichols 2006. Also, in the usability field, in 27, authors explore how some open source projects address issues of usability and describe the mechanisms, techniques, and technology used by open source. There have been many successful opensource projects 6,2, e. Usability and open source software development they just dont like to do the boring stuff for the stupid people. Network performance monitor npm is a powerful fault and performance management software designed to make it quick and easy to detect, diagnose, and resolve issues. A pilot empirical study of applying a usability technique in. However, our researchs interest is focused on the oss development process.
How usability defects defer from nonusability defects. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study. A pilot empirical study of applying a usability technique. The growth in the number of nondeveloper open source software oss. If thats the case, then contributing the patch back is the best way to ensure that your friends and yourself when you update to. Usability is typically described in terms of five characteristics.
The research model of this study establishes the relationship between usability errors in oss and online public forums. View of the usability of open source software first monday. Its not only a matter of volunteering for the encouraged, but optional, upstream contributions to foss projects, but also complying with the legal requirements of open source licenses. Also, hopefully the gimp devs will notice this question. Top 10 best open source softwares that rocks world wide. As a consequence, it can be difficult for individuals to make small, incremental improvements to a softwares usability, a significant issue for software. A data set of 106 oss developers from 18 open source projects of varied size has been used to study the research model.
The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. By contrast, many oss projects lack formal requirements capture processes and. Usability processes in open source projects wiley online library. The open source usability group is a group dedicated to improving the usability of open source software. Working as a usability professional in the open source arena is a challenging task. The usability of open source software research commons. Network performance monitor can give you deeper insight into your cisco asa firewalls, vpn tunnels, and visibility for troubleshooting tunnels with issues.
Im working slowly on an opensource project, and i was hoping to do some usability testing once its a bit further along. Buildbot is a freelylicensed framework which enables software developers to automate software build, test, and release processes for their software projects. Usability bugs in opensource software and online forums. Poor usability is an oftcited complaint when discussing open source software and. Open source software oss, or free open source software, foss is becoming increasingly visible in current software landscape. At work, jim is ceo of hallmentum, an it executive consulting company that helps. In particular we consider how these developers cope with their distributed community, lack of. However, usability technique definition and integration into oss projects is a. Lots of open source contributors start by being users of software they contribute to.
Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. I prefer to run opensource software tools, and i think most linux journal readers do too. Its a little bit dated year 2002, but i think most issues remain the same even now after 10 years. However, usability concerns cut across the entire application. For example, the opensource web content management system drupal streamed testers desktops as they undertook a usability test. How openstack continues to be one of the top three most active open source. The aim of our research is to determine the feasibility of applying the focus groups. When you find a bug in an open source software you use, you may want to look at the source to see if you can patch it yourself. Freeopen source software architectures are often highly modular in design. The growth in the number of nondeveloper open source software oss application users has drawn attention to usability in the oss community. A usability refactoring process for largescale open source projects.
A data set of 106 oss developers from 18 open source projects of varied size. There have been many successful open source projects 6,2, e. Software increasingly includes a diverse assortment of. George eastman house and internet archive book images. Testing in open source projects software quality assurance. Twidale, usability processes in open source projects citeseerx. N2 we explore how some open source projects address issues of usability. Citeseerx professional usability in open source projects. Can open source ehrs offer a new path for health it usability. As suggested by redish email, 2012 developers can gain significant insight through observation, gathering a few test participants and watching them use the software. Adapting usability techniques for application in open source. Shortcomings with respect to process, activity, task and technique definition in the.
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