Users’ perception of open source usability: an empirical study

  • Authors:

  • Arif Raza;Luiz Fernando Capretz;Faheem Ahmed

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Western Ontario, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, N6A 5B9, London, ON, Canada;University of Western Ontario, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, N6A 5B9, London, ON, Canada;United Arab Emirates University, Faculty of Information Technology, P. O. Box 17551, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

  • Venue:
  • Engineering with Computers
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

The number of open source software (OSS) users has increased in recent years. No longer are they limited to technically adept software developers. Many believe that the OSS market share could increase tremendously provided OSS had systems that were easier to use. Although examples of good usable open source software exist, it is agreed that OSS can be made more usable. This study presents an empirical investigation into the impact of some key factors on OSS usability from the end users’ point of view. The research model studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from the users’ perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 102 OSS users from 13 open source projects of various sizes was used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence by indicating that the highlighted key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.