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How To Tell Open-Source Winners From Losers

Posted by Hemos on from the sifting-chaff-&-wheat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There are 139,834 open-source projects under way on SourceForge. IWeek wonders which projects will make lasting contributions, and which will fizzle. Sure, Linux, Apache, and MySQL are winners, but what about OpenVista, FLOSSmole, and Hyperic HQ? What's your list of open-source winners and losers?"

11 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. I go to Sourceforge after I learn about a program by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is backwards, I hear about a program, then I go look for it on Sourceforge. Who has time to sift through 100,000 hobby projects? Let others discover and bring the good ones to light. That is what true open source is all about.

  2. Re:I go to Sourceforge after I learn about a progr by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not sure if you are joking or not, so...

    Here is a partial list of successful free software projects not on Sourceforge:

    • Linux
    • Apache
    • Python
    • Ruby (off and on Rails)
    • PostgreSQL
    • Most of GNU
    • *BSD

    A better place to look for successful free software projects is http://packages.debian.org/.

    --
    http://outcampaign.org/
  3. Anything I can benefit from is a "winner"... by Richard+Steiner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't care so much if a program is popular. I'm more interested in whether or not a program is actually USEFUL to me. :-) Some of the open source stuff I love is quite unpopular, but I don't care because it does what I want in the way I want it done.

    That's one of the beauties of open source -- "winning" doesn't always matter.

    --
    Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
    The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
    1. Re:Anything I can benefit from is a "winner"... by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You are thinking in terms of getting a program and using it yourself, for your own setup. If you are working in a larger business environment this may not hold useful.

      Leaving out any of the stupid Political how Bosses are stupid and stuff here are some facts why you should be more interested in more Successful projects.

      Training Costs: Training costs are more then paying an expert to tell the people how to use the product during a meeting. It is the downtime people suffer from the learning curve on the product. Say it is an easy to use App and it takes a company of 100 employees only 15 Minutes to learn and get useful. Assuming an average wage of $15.00 an hour That is about $300 (The actual multiplication is more but we can assume that they can make up some of the loss time that day) So for a Very Simple application that is very easy to use we have spent enough money to Pay a $15.00 hour employee for 1/2 a week. As a program grows in complexity the numbers a higher, and if the CEO needs to use this app it can get expensive quickly. If you use a more popular application there are chances that there will be more people who already know the product and less training expenses.

      Dynamic Needs: Companies needs are rarely static, and they are often the same changes that happen with other companies. Using a more Active and Popular tool increases the chances that the product will keep up with the needs.

      Security: One lonely programmer checking for security or a large team checking and fixing security. Which do you prefer.

      Finding the Product: If you are trying to find a product that meets your needs you will normally find the more popular product first then then other guys later. So it comes up with how much time/money are you willing to spend to find that needle in the haystack that will work perfectly with you. Or the more popular app is good enough and will get the job done.

      Support: If there is a problem what is the base you can turn to. If the project is too unpopular then the only guy you can contact is the developer, and if he is tired explaining the products he just may not talk to you. For more popular products there is a community you can turn to get support on your problems.

      Now for some of the PHB problems.

      Unknown Name: MySQL, Linux, Apache They get some coverage in the non-tech rags. If it is to remote then the Boss will not want to try it because they haven't heard from anyone else professionally on how well it works or not. As well articles stating its success if the project fails.

      What if the project stops: What if the project just stops. Who will keep the product alive. Trusting a Company Critical Application so a program that may day doesn't sound good to me.

      If this doesn't work who to blame: if the S**T hits the fan fingers will be pointed and if the project isn't popular enough it will go under the radar and toward the person who implemented it or approved the implementation. Saying it is Linux or Microsoft fault will ease the blame towards the individuals because the product has been used sucessfuly elsewhere. But if was GNUseless then You will get the blame.

      Sure for personal use you can use whatever application you like. I myself for text editing I prefer JED not as much Vi or Emacs. As well as some other less used tools. But if I need to implement on a company bases even for a very small company going with larger names actually does make it easier to get it approved and implemented.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  4. How to tell? by bendodge · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Does it have a good plan and some goals
    2. Is it something someone needs? (Edison and the electric voting machine...)
    3. Can it be to kept current and out of obsoletion with reasonable effort?

    Other than that, only time will tell.

    --
    The government can't save you.
  5. Easy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Winners:

    root@localhost>./configure %% make && make install
    root@localhost>
    (program/library/whatever works)

    Losers:

    root@localhost>./configure %% make && make install
    error: unable to find . You need to install library.
    root@localhost>rm -rf ./*
    root@localhost>

  6. Re:I go to Sourceforge after I learn about a progr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Here is a partial list of successful free software projects not on Sourceforge:

    No, that's basically it. When it comes to server software, interpreted languages, a couple of RDMSs, browsers, and toolkits, Sourceforge is GREAT!

    I was looking for some accounting/bookkeeping software and CRM software on Sourceforge for running my non-IT business and I found it to be incredibly lacking. Most of the projects were in the Alpha stages, if that, and many were just starting up. I need software now. I don't have time to contribute my very rusty programming skills either. So, I had to get a commercial package...that's me.

    A friend of mine who runs a blog and a comment site much like this one (political) was using some F/OSS blogging comment posting software. He isn't technical and needed support which was lacking in the F/OSS version of the software he was using. He can't afford to hire a F/OSS developer. So he purchased a commercial application for around $300.00 that meets all of his needs.

    Now, as someone who reads Slashdot everyday, I can assure all of you that I mentioned EVERYTHING that you folks are about to mention to me. He wasn't interested. He NEEDED a piece of software that worked and worked now - no Beta, no Alpha - A RELEASED VERSION of software and someone who will fix his problems.

    I just committed heresy here on Slashdot and I'm waiting for the wips and chains.

  7. Winners vs. Losers? ... its not a game by CountJoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't appreciate the idea of Winners vs. Losers in the open source world. It's not a game. There are a lot of open source projects that never get released or never get a following, but that doesn't make them Losers. Sometimes you start a project and find out that someone else has already done, or is doing, something better. Sometimes you just lose interest. Things happen. At least some people are trying. And they're not losers.

    I say this because I have started/joined several now-dead projects.

  8. Size of user base means little by ChrisA90278 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Many of those 100,000+ projects were never ment to be "big" for example I have one project there. It is a Linux kernel drivel and some user land stuff that goes with it. The driver controls an astronomical camera of which less than one dozen wer made. Onless you run a TASS Mk III camera you don't need this.

    Much of this stuff is intended for a very small user group, so if only 50 people use it, it is not a failure. One example is software to help with EME radio (EME is "Earth, Moon, Earth" where you bounce radio signals off the moon.) this is very popular but only within a small community. Actually MOST software is like this. Here at work I'm working on software to process telemetry data from space lift boosters. Not many people need this. I'd guess n the closed source worlld 99% of everything is written for just a few users and therefor never published.

    Don't count quality or usefullness by the number o users

  9. Nice list. With one bummer. by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Blender - just not enough market for another 3D app, which is why the commercial company sold it off to begin with. The nonstandard interface and workflow gets in the way and only enthusiasts really use it (like gimp, but with a much much smaller install base)

    My gosh. Your list is more or less compliant to mine, but this is a complete bummer. Blender is one of the gallionfigures of the OSS movement and it's installed base is easyly 10 to 100 times larger that that of Gimp. If only Gimp were as easy to install as Blender. It competes with packages that are 50 times larges and cost upwards of 2000$. It's got a fully OpenGL accelerated GUI - which afaik no other programm has had that long - and has gotten recent feature additions that put it way ahead of competition in a lot of fields. Blender is the OSS application that is currently scaring the living piss out of the entire 3D industry and for good reasons too. You're entirely wrong on this one.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  10. I'm still waiting for a competitor... by patio11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Three times my little slice of commercial software development has made it onto Slashdot. (http://www.bingocardcreator.com -- It makes bingo cards for elementary schoolteachers.)
    Three times folks have said its trivial (true as it goes -- it took me a man-week to write.)
    Three times folks have said its disgusting to charge $24.95 for it (good thing I don't sell to Slashdot readers.)
    Three times folks have said OSS is going to put me out of business.
    Three times folks have actually offered to donate labor to put me out of business. ...

    Three years my OSS competitor has gone without a patch. (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bingo-cards) It lacks a few key features, like actually printing the cards it makes. This makes it more active than 80% of the projects on Sourceforge.

    Is bingo-cards a success? Well, it probably accomplished what the author wanted it to, and good for him. Is it going to put me out of business? No. Is OSS ever going to supplant commercial software in bingo card creation or a whole lot of other human endeavors? No.

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.