Story: Testing times for open source

Posted by: Anonymous (Sunday 24 April 2005, 8:26 AM)

Having worked for 15 years as a programmer on both in-house and commercial software, last year I had my first taste of working on open-source software. I was attempting to make two programming tools work together. What I found was very interesting - tool A was basically never tested, except by being used; while tool B had a development process that involved much more rigorous (and effective) testing than the commercial product for which I had been a developer.

So I don't think this article is a fair portrayal of software quality issues in Open Source. As with other aspects of Open Source software, its openness allows potential users to examine the development methodology applied by each project and factor this into the "purchasing" decision.

At least there is never the shock of discovering the difference between the expectation promised by the glossy pamphlet vs. the rushed-to-market code that arrives in the box.

Anonymous to protect my former employers!