Differences between revisions 6 and 7
Revision 6 as of 2007-09-19 13:56:23
Size: 2063
Editor: madduck
Comment:
Revision 7 as of 2007-09-19 14:41:12
Size: 1784
Editor: madduck
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 3: Line 3:
The following factors influence the rate of adoption of tools in subject
communities. The theory is that certain aspects of a tool determine whether it
will be quickly and widely used. For now, we can simply look at this in terms of success or failure of a tool.
Line 8: Line 4:
''any'' influence on success '''or failure''' of a tool, however small; my research is about finding out which ones make more of a difference and which ones can be safely ignored. ''any'' influence on success ''or failure'' of a tool, however small; my research is about finding out which ones make more of a difference and which ones are less relevant.
Line 12: Line 8:
contact you if I have questions and so that I can give appropriate credit. contact you if I have questions and can give appropriate credit.
Line 15: Line 11:
adopted by developers of the Debian project. Feel free to extend this list as
well.
adopted by developers of the Debian project. Feel free to extend/edit this list
as well.

Factors affecting diffusions in OSS

In this list, I attempt to bring together all factors which could have any influence on success or failure of a tool, however small; my research is about finding out which ones make more of a difference and which ones are less relevant.

If you feel like adding your thoughts to a factor, please feel free. It would help if you'd prefix your comments with your name so that I know how to contact you if I have questions and can give appropriate credit.

Also see ["madduck/adoptions"] for a list of tools which have or have not been adopted by developers of the Debian project. Feel free to extend/edit this list as well.

I use the following categories for factors (please extend as you see fit):

  • [wiki:/usability Usability]: how usable is the tool? Is it well-documented? Can it be used in more than one way? Does it have multiple interfaces?
  • [wiki:/maintenance Maintenance status]: how well is the tool maintained? Does it distinguish between stable and unstable releases? Are unstable releases usable?
  • [wiki:/implementation Implementation]: how is a tool implemented? This is about code, language, style of development, modularity, accessibility to users interested in touching the code, etc.
  • [wiki:/direction Direction]: does the project follow a defined direction? Is there a manifesto? What happens with new ideas which may deviate a bit from a given direction?
  • [wiki:/community Community]: what are the traits of the developer and user communities around the tool? Is it vibrant? Open to newcomers? Helpful?

    Focused? This is likely not a category of its own but rather to be split between usability and implementation: user vs. developer communities.