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Posted to dev@openoffice.apache.org by "Ryan, Benjamin" <81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au> on 2013/01/31 23:15:55 UTC
Case Study on Open Office
Hello Open Office Developers sorry to bother you but I am in need of some help
I am doing a school Assignment (Case Study) on a particular Software Solution and I chose to do "Open Office" but i need to find some answer to these questions.
1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
2. Discuss the appropriateness of the approaches used.Why was this approach chosen?
3. Describe how the various personal involved in the process, contribute to the overall development?
4. Evaluate how social and ethical issues were addressed?
6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
If you could help me in any way to answer a few questions or all of the questions I would be very grateful and thank you for your time in advance.
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Re: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net>.
Le 31/01/2013 23:15, Ryan, Benjamin a écrit :
>
> 3. Describe how the various personal involved in the process, contribute to the overall development?
For the record, the Forum team (the Volunteers at http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/ ) have been interviewed last year for the master thesis of 2 students of the Lund University (Sweden).
The thesis can be downloaded (free) here: http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24923&postid=2827648
It explains some of the motivations of the people who help the users.
Note that the ASF was not used to integrate forums (they are used to mailing lists) in their projects. But since OpenOffice is very much end-user oriented, they agreed to host the forums (that were hosted by former OOo "owner" Sun then Oracle). The interest from users in the forum has never decreased and after more than a year, the forum is showing the same popularity as before Oracle gave the code to ASF.
For an end-user oriented application like AOO, there are important areas of the project that need more work because the audience is made of end-users with low level of computer knowledge (not all of them of course). I'm thinking of forums of course but also wiki and documentation. Access to information on how to use the application must be made as much easy as possible. It's not part of the development itself (as for the code) but it's part of the success of such a large project.
Hagar
RE: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by "Ryan, Benjamin" <81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au>.
________________________________________
From: Rob Weir [robweir@apache.org]
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 3:39 AM
To: dev@openoffice.apache.org; Ryan, Benjamin
Subject: Re: Case Study on Open Office
On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Ryan, Benjamin
<81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au> wrote:
> Hello Open Office Developers sorry to bother you but I am in need of some help
>
> I am doing a school Assignment (Case Study) on a particular Software Solution and I chose to do "Open Office" but i need to find some answer to these questions.
>
>
>
> 1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
>
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for here. A "development
approach" comprises many factors, from choice of design methodologies,
approaches to organization, decision making licensing and business
models, etc.
Apache OpenOffice is community-developed open source software. Open
source software is software where the program, as well as the source
code for the program, is made available to users free of charge.
Users not only can use the software, but they can make copies of it
and give it to their friends. They can even modify the software and
distribute their own versions of it, for free or at any price they
chose.
OpenOffice is developed by a community of volunteers within the Apache
Software Foundation, a non-profit foundation with the mission of
providing free, open source software to the public.
As you can see, the underlying motivation and organization of the
project is different than the typical for-profit, corporate-run
software publisher. But at the level of the actual software
development, and the methodologies used, it is not very different than
commercial development. I'd describe what we do as generally an agile
process with a flat organizational hierarchy guided by set of shared
beliefs sometimes called "The Apache Way". You can read more about
this here: http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html
> 2. Discuss the appropriateness of the approaches used.Why was this approach chosen?
>
Since the work is done by volunteers, a top-down hierarchical approach
cannot work. No one can order a volunteer to do something. It must
be something they want to do, something that they are interested it
and enjoy doing.
This is not the only way that open source software can be developed.
Other approach include:
a) Having a for-profit corporation control the project, allowing
volunteers to contribute, but control is firmly with the corporation.
b) Having a "benevolent dictator" who makes the major decisions.
c) Having an oligarchy "committee within the committee" that makes all
the decisions.
In Apache projects, however, the decision making is much flatter. For
example we have over 120 "committers" in the OpenOffice project. Any
of them can make code changes, and any of them can veto code changes
from others. So the power is very distributed, a flat organizational
hierarchy.
> 3. Describe how the various personal involved in the process, contribute to the overall development?
>
We use a lowest-common denominator technical approach to
collaboration, relying mainly on mailing lists, wikis and version
control to collaborate. Since we're spread out all over the world,
these kinds of tools work well. We're not all in the same timezone,
so little of our collaboration is in real-time.
We use a main mailing list (the "dev" list) for overall project
coordination, and then also have specialized lists for QA, Marketing,
Translation, Documentation, etc.
> 4. Evaluate how social and ethical issues were addressed?
>
See: http://www.openoffice.org/stats/ooo-dev-subscribers.html
> 6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
>
I would not say the system is "new". Apache has been around since
1999, and the basic approach toward community-led open source projects
is well-established and replicated in many other organizations. The
fact that we have had over 35 million downloads of our most recent
release of OpenOffice (3.4) is a good sign. The fact that Apache as a
foundation publishes many of the top open source projects in use today
is another good sign that The Apache Way to community open source
development is a powerful approach.
Regards,
-Rob
>
> If you could help me in any way to answer a few questions or all of the questions I would be very grateful and thank you for your time in advance.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> TRINITY CATHOLIC COLLEGE LISMORE CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY NOTICE:
> This email is confidential.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender immediately.
> You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRINITY CATHOLIC COLLEGE LISMORE CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY NOTICE:
This email is confidential.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender immediately.
You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
Re: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net>.
Le 02/02/2013 17:39, Rob Weir a écrit :
> Since the work is done by volunteers, a top-down hierarchical approach
> cannot work. No one can order a volunteer to do something. It must
> be something they want to do, something that they are interested it
> and enjoy doing.
Well, this is not always the case. Some don't really follow this guideline.
Hopefully, they are not that many. But this is a reality of the community.
See: http://markmail.org/message/uzs5bu3r5oby2fza and the whole thread.
Hagar
Re: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by Andrea Pescetti <pe...@apache.org>.
On 03/02/2013 Ryan, Benjamin wrote:
> 1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
> What software development approaches were used eg Structured(top-down) prototyping,RAD or Agile
I have little to add to what Rob already answered. OpenOffice is a
community effort, so we don't enforce any particular methodologies. The
project has coding standards, see for example
http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Cpp_Coding_Standards and
http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Writer/Code_Conventions ; and it has a
number of development branches where new features are developed before
being merged to the main trunk. So nothing unusual in this respect.
We may use a "review then commit" or "commit then review" approach
depending on the impact of a change, but we ensure that all new code is
reviewed by peer developers.
> 6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
> How the software has met the needs of the user and target audience
> At the current statistics Open office has taken 14% of Microsoft offices sale which is quiet significant
> Market-Share etc
We invite feedback from the users and ask them how OpenOffice can better
meet their needs. For example, months ago we ran a Google Moderator
initiative https://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=2011d5 asking users
for their priorities in the OpenOffice development, and getting about
1000 new ideas from them.
Regards,
Andrea.
RE: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by "Ryan, Benjamin" <81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au>.
1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
What software development approaches were used eg Structured(top-down) prototyping,RAD or Agile
6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
How the software has met the needs of the user and target audience
At the current statistics Open office has taken 14% of Microsoft offices sale which is quiet significant
Market-Share etc
If anyone else could add or extend on any of the questions i would be very grateful
________________________________________
From: Rob Weir [robweir@apache.org]
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 3:39 AM
To: dev@openoffice.apache.org; Ryan, Benjamin
Subject: Re: Case Study on Open Office
On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Ryan, Benjamin
<81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au> wrote:
> Hello Open Office Developers sorry to bother you but I am in need of some help
>
> I am doing a school Assignment (Case Study) on a particular Software Solution and I chose to do "Open Office" but i need to find some answer to these questions.
>
>
>
> 1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
>
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for here. A "development
approach" comprises many factors, from choice of design methodologies,
approaches to organization, decision making licensing and business
models, etc.
Apache OpenOffice is community-developed open source software. Open
source software is software where the program, as well as the source
code for the program, is made available to users free of charge.
Users not only can use the software, but they can make copies of it
and give it to their friends. They can even modify the software and
distribute their own versions of it, for free or at any price they
chose.
OpenOffice is developed by a community of volunteers within the Apache
Software Foundation, a non-profit foundation with the mission of
providing free, open source software to the public.
As you can see, the underlying motivation and organization of the
project is different than the typical for-profit, corporate-run
software publisher. But at the level of the actual software
development, and the methodologies used, it is not very different than
commercial development. I'd describe what we do as generally an agile
process with a flat organizational hierarchy guided by set of shared
beliefs sometimes called "The Apache Way". You can read more about
this here: http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html
> 2. Discuss the appropriateness of the approaches used.Why was this approach chosen?
>
Since the work is done by volunteers, a top-down hierarchical approach
cannot work. No one can order a volunteer to do something. It must
be something they want to do, something that they are interested it
and enjoy doing.
This is not the only way that open source software can be developed.
Other approach include:
a) Having a for-profit corporation control the project, allowing
volunteers to contribute, but control is firmly with the corporation.
b) Having a "benevolent dictator" who makes the major decisions.
c) Having an oligarchy "committee within the committee" that makes all
the decisions.
In Apache projects, however, the decision making is much flatter. For
example we have over 120 "committers" in the OpenOffice project. Any
of them can make code changes, and any of them can veto code changes
from others. So the power is very distributed, a flat organizational
hierarchy.
> 3. Describe how the various personal involved in the process, contribute to the overall development?
>
We use a lowest-common denominator technical approach to
collaboration, relying mainly on mailing lists, wikis and version
control to collaborate. Since we're spread out all over the world,
these kinds of tools work well. We're not all in the same timezone,
so little of our collaboration is in real-time.
We use a main mailing list (the "dev" list) for overall project
coordination, and then also have specialized lists for QA, Marketing,
Translation, Documentation, etc.
> 4. Evaluate how social and ethical issues were addressed?
>
See: http://www.openoffice.org/stats/ooo-dev-subscribers.html
> 6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
>
I would not say the system is "new". Apache has been around since
1999, and the basic approach toward community-led open source projects
is well-established and replicated in many other organizations. The
fact that we have had over 35 million downloads of our most recent
release of OpenOffice (3.4) is a good sign. The fact that Apache as a
foundation publishes many of the top open source projects in use today
is another good sign that The Apache Way to community open source
development is a powerful approach.
Regards,
-Rob
>
> If you could help me in any way to answer a few questions or all of the questions I would be very grateful and thank you for your time in advance.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> TRINITY CATHOLIC COLLEGE LISMORE CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY NOTICE:
> This email is confidential.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender immediately.
> You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRINITY CATHOLIC COLLEGE LISMORE CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY NOTICE:
This email is confidential.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender immediately.
You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
Re: Case Study on Open Office
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Ryan, Benjamin
<81...@trinitylismore.nsw.edu.au> wrote:
> Hello Open Office Developers sorry to bother you but I am in need of some help
>
> I am doing a school Assignment (Case Study) on a particular Software Solution and I chose to do "Open Office" but i need to find some answer to these questions.
>
>
>
> 1. Identify the software development approaches used in the development of the Software? e.g Open office
>
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for here. A "development
approach" comprises many factors, from choice of design methodologies,
approaches to organization, decision making licensing and business
models, etc.
Apache OpenOffice is community-developed open source software. Open
source software is software where the program, as well as the source
code for the program, is made available to users free of charge.
Users not only can use the software, but they can make copies of it
and give it to their friends. They can even modify the software and
distribute their own versions of it, for free or at any price they
chose.
OpenOffice is developed by a community of volunteers within the Apache
Software Foundation, a non-profit foundation with the mission of
providing free, open source software to the public.
As you can see, the underlying motivation and organization of the
project is different than the typical for-profit, corporate-run
software publisher. But at the level of the actual software
development, and the methodologies used, it is not very different than
commercial development. I'd describe what we do as generally an agile
process with a flat organizational hierarchy guided by set of shared
beliefs sometimes called "The Apache Way". You can read more about
this here: http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html
> 2. Discuss the appropriateness of the approaches used.Why was this approach chosen?
>
Since the work is done by volunteers, a top-down hierarchical approach
cannot work. No one can order a volunteer to do something. It must
be something they want to do, something that they are interested it
and enjoy doing.
This is not the only way that open source software can be developed.
Other approach include:
a) Having a for-profit corporation control the project, allowing
volunteers to contribute, but control is firmly with the corporation.
b) Having a "benevolent dictator" who makes the major decisions.
c) Having an oligarchy "committee within the committee" that makes all
the decisions.
In Apache projects, however, the decision making is much flatter. For
example we have over 120 "committers" in the OpenOffice project. Any
of them can make code changes, and any of them can veto code changes
from others. So the power is very distributed, a flat organizational
hierarchy.
> 3. Describe how the various personal involved in the process, contribute to the overall development?
>
We use a lowest-common denominator technical approach to
collaboration, relying mainly on mailing lists, wikis and version
control to collaborate. Since we're spread out all over the world,
these kinds of tools work well. We're not all in the same timezone,
so little of our collaboration is in real-time.
We use a main mailing list (the "dev" list) for overall project
coordination, and then also have specialized lists for QA, Marketing,
Translation, Documentation, etc.
> 4. Evaluate how social and ethical issues were addressed?
>
See: http://www.openoffice.org/stats/ooo-dev-subscribers.html
> 6. Evaluate how effectively the new system met the needs of the user or the target market?
>
I would not say the system is "new". Apache has been around since
1999, and the basic approach toward community-led open source projects
is well-established and replicated in many other organizations. The
fact that we have had over 35 million downloads of our most recent
release of OpenOffice (3.4) is a good sign. The fact that Apache as a
foundation publishes many of the top open source projects in use today
is another good sign that The Apache Way to community open source
development is a powerful approach.
Regards,
-Rob
>
> If you could help me in any way to answer a few questions or all of the questions I would be very grateful and thank you for your time in advance.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> TRINITY CATHOLIC COLLEGE LISMORE CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY NOTICE:
> This email is confidential.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender immediately.
> You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
>