Towards an Openness Rating System for Open Source Software

TitleTowards an Openness Rating System for Open Source Software
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsBein, W, Jeffery, C
Secondary Title2010 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2010)
Pagination1 - 8
PublisherIEEE
Place PublishedHonolulu, Hawaii, USA
ISBN Number978-1-4244-5509-6
Keywordsalice, case study, contribution, documentation, freespire, galib, latex, license, linux, linux kernel, mediaportal, openness, openoffice, opensolaris, rating, unicon
Abstract

Many open source software projects are not very open to third party developers. The point of open source is to enable anyone to fix bugs or add desired capabilities without holding them hostage to the original developers. This principle is important because an open source project's developers may be unresponsive or unable to meet third party needs, even if funding support for requested improvements is offered.This paper presents a simple rating system for evaluating the openness of software distributions. The rating system considers factors such as platform portability, documentation, licensing, and contribution policy. Several popular open source products are rated in order to illustrate the efficacy of the rating system.

DOI10.1109/HICSS.2010.405
Full Text
AttachmentSize
PDF icon 10-07-04.pdf174.81 KB