Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 6th May 2008 15:15 UTC, submitted by Shlomi Fish
"Which parameters make software applications high-quality? And which parameters or methods, while desirable, are not directly 'quality'?" This is the question the author of this article asks himself. Most of his 'parameters' make a lot of sense, but be aware that the article is about what makes an open source program high quality, and not programs in general. This important bit is stated in the one-sentence 'abstract'.
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Member since:
2007-09-06
oh absolutely, there's enough examples of crap software on any platform. I also find the FOSS or nothing croud distastfully extreme though if I can get the needed functions from something libre, the binary blob option better have something compelling to justify itself.
(VMware Workstation is probably the next software purchase unless I have to breakdown and get a DX10 OS license - There's nothing else in Vista for my needs).
I do think that source availability leads to better software and having the option to complile source has saved me a few times but it's not a deal breaker if the closed source offering justifies itself. I'm not a trained developer so the source is as usefull too me as too any average user. Being able to find an active community of developers and see the bug reports and fixes makes a big difference though.
My objection was purely too the idea that because it's under a libre license, it's crap or that one software example is representative of the whole market. Or, because it's under a closed license, it's automatically great software. There are bad examples on all platforms just like there are some really good examples on all platforms.