Fundamental issues with open source software development by Michelle Levesque

This Slashdot Story points to the article by Michelle Levesque where she points out the five fundamental problems with the current Open Source software development trend, explores why these issues are holding the movement back, and offers solutions that might help overcome these problems. The problems discussed are :

1) User interface design

2) Documentation

3) Feature–centric development

4) Programming for the self

5) Religious blindness



Who is Michelle Levesque ?

Michelle Levesque is a researcher for the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies and a student at the University of Toronto’s Computer Science department. Her job includes designing and implementing programs to enumerate and circumvent state–imposed Internet content filtering. This past summer she and two colleagues traveled to Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico to study how computer technology — especially Open Source technology — can be used to benefit civil society in developing nations. The trip has been made into a documentary entitled Hacktivista.