Open Source has made great strides and has become a very valuable resource for IT infrastructure. No doubt it will continue to move forward and introduce new innovations. However, there are a number of troubling areas that have lingered. Is it possible that the very nature of OOS, though it excels in many areas, may be hampering the future progress of the movement?

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...The lack of focus on user interface design causes users to prefer proprietary software’s more intuitive interface. Open Source software tends to lack the complete and accessible documentation that retains users. Developers focus on features in their software, rather than ensuring that they have a solid core. Open Source programmers also tend to program with themselves as an intended audience, rather than the general public. Lastly, there is a widely known stubbornness by Open Source programmers in refusing to learn from what lessons proprietary software has to offer [FirstMonday].

Open Source is great. I use it a lot. But, despite the annoyances caused by proprietary (especially Microsoft) software, I find that the pros outweigh the cons. As a result, I continue to rely heavily on proprietary software for everything but writing code. I like the intuitive, clean interfaces and documentation provided by systems like Microsoft Office 2003. When and if the OOS community builds a system that can truly compete, then I may be willing to switch. 10:56:50 AM    comment []