QSOS
Encyclopedia
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
. This methodology is released under the GFDL license.
General approach
QSOS defines 4 steps that are part of an iterative process:
- 1 - Define and organise what will be assessed (common Open Source criteria and risks and technical domain specific functionalities),
- 2 - Assess the competing software against the criteria defined above and score these criteria individually,
- 3 - Qualify your evaluation by organising criteria into evaluation axes, and defining filtering (weightings, etc.) related to your context,
- 4 - Select the appropriate OSS by scoring all competing software using the filtering system designed in step 3.
Output documents
This process generates software assessing sheets as well as comparison grids. These comparison grids eventually assist the user to choose the right software depending on the context.These documents are also released under the free GNU FDL License. This allows them to be reused and improved as well as to remain more objective.
Assessment sheets are stored using an XML-based format.
Tools
Several tools distributed under the GPL license are provided to help users manipulate QSOS documents:- Template editor: QSOS XUL Template Editor
- Assessment sheets editors:
- QSOS XUL Editor
- QSOS Qt Editor
- QSOS Java Editor (under development)
See also
- Open source software assessment methodologiesOpen source software assessment methodologiesSeveral methods have been created to define an assessment process for Free/Open Source software. Some focus on some aspects like the maturity, the durability and the strategy of the organisation around the Open Source project itself...
- Open Source Software
- Free SoftwareFree softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...