Does Open Source Need Quality Standards?

underpar writes "This Techworld.com article reports that a UK group called the Open Source Consortium is being officially launched today. The article further states that the goal of the group is to respond to claims that switching to open source is more expensive than using Microsoft products and to help smaller companies compete with Sun and IBM for open source contracts. They say they will not compete with other open source groups and they intend to eventually come to the US. The hype-filled about us section of their site says their Quality Standard Certification provides a "simple framework for self-assessment and performance improvement." The question of whether this is useful or even wanted in the US still remains to be answered."

Comments

Questionable quality.

[RealAlaskan]

From TFA:

Our quality standard certification is an ideal route for Open Source Consultancies who wish to be recognised for taking the first steps to implementing a formal quality management system. The OSC Business Standard makes an ideal first step on the road to ISO 9001 or the Excellence Model.

So, this is for consultancies, not software.

More to the point, isn't ISO 9001 one of those standards where you prove your ``quality'' by committing to following a process, and documenting that you do indeed follow that process? The inevitable result is that you can commit to shooting your customer in the foot, and document that you have done so, and earn the highest ``quality'' rating for it. That sort of ``quality'' isn't very reassuring.

Re:Dumb overgeneralization

[Anonymous Coward]

Another dumb overgenralization is that this organization think that their " Quality Standard Certification" is appropriate for a wide range of products.

Linux in medical devices should have follow FDA standards

Linux in automotive systems shouldd follow DOT standards.

Linux in voting machines should follow Diebold/MS-Access quality standards..

(sorry for the US-centric examples - for your own country pick your favorite certification organizations)

Re:McHammer: Too Open To Standardize

[MoonFog]

Nothing will stop them. If US companies want to listen to the US Open Source Consortium as you name it, then they will. If European companies want to listen more to another OSC, then they are free to to do so. Is this necessarily a bad thing? As long as there is some kind of control and legitimacy over these consortiums, this can be good. Establishing 15 different consortiums within one country just because some developers disagree would probably be overkill though.

The Community chooses.

[Nijika]

Ugh, sorry for the marketing like speak, but I feel like the quality standards in OSS are dictated in an "organic" way. Where the best software bubbles to the top, and the quality is assured by continued participation in quality software. Look at Apache. Look at the Linux and BSD kernels. KDE, anything. All of them have organic style quality controls where the community dictates just what is quality.

I can imagine an organized group like this, though, would be excellent at answering issues like corporate generated FUD in an organized and coherent way. That's our big problem, we lack representation (not counting eccentric geniuses with big ZZ top beards).

And a redundant idea to boot

[passthecrackpipe]

Not only an overgenralisation, it is a redundant idea to boot. OSDL already provides a lot of the stuff they publicly talk about - code quality etc. The real purpose of the organisation comes to light when you read deeper into the site.

You need to be skilled in their "consulting framework" and you need to conform to some "financial framework" as well. Their membership criteria are mysterious (hint, you probably need to be a member of their club of buddies) and some of the organisations that are members (and knowing those organisations intimately, they probably are the drivers behind this thing as well) are decidedly dodgy - Open Forum Europe has publicly spoken as "Open Source Representatives" and as such, have signed a declaration supporting software patents. Looks to me like just another group of people trying to corner a market. Anyone remember the Open Group, and the "good" they did for UNIX? (another hint - a lot of the same people are involved)

This is so much the wrong crowd to hang out with....