What’s the path to Open Source Application Success?

Few days ago, Derek Singleton of Software Advice has published a post on his blog on the failure of open source ERP applications in gaining mainstream acceptance.

I’m not dealing with OSS ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), but I know something about OSS application acceptance (the best known example is SpagoBI, in the Open Source Business Intelligence domain).

Derek raised many questions, starting with: what OSS is in OSS applications?… Read the rest

SOS Open Source: Save Our Souls from Open Source assessments

The inclusion of open source solutions and developments into software qualification and selection methodologies is not a new research topic. For many years different approaches have existed, including QSOS by Atos Origin, OSMM by B.Golden, OSMM by Cap Gemini, EOS by Optaros, OpenBRR, OSS Watch, IRCA by David Wheeler, ohloh recently acquired by Black Duck Software, and others. Some of them are well structured methods, others provide tools for quality evaluation or a list of metrics to be considered in an open source assessment.… Read the rest

Open Source Communities and Contributor Agreement: it’s all about Trust

Recently I’ve noticed a debate about Open Source Communities and Contributor Agreements.

Simon Phipps, in his post, says that “Contributor agreements that aggregate the copyrights of open source code in favour of a single corporate sponsor are a sure sign of a community where one member has more rights than the rest. And equality is the key to success.”

This is a nice opportunity for me to clarify my position about this topic and SpagoWorld contribution policy.… Read the rest