An Empirical Study of Open Source Software Usability: The Industrial Perspective

TL;DR

This empirical study investigates how industry users perceive key usability factors like understandability and learnability in open source software, highlighting their importance for improving OSS usability from an industrial perspective.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the significance of usability factors for OSS from industry users, an area less explored in prior research.

Findings

Understandability and learnability are crucial for OSS usability.

Usability factors significantly influence user satisfaction.

Industry users value attractiveness and operability in OSS.

Abstract

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the use of open source projects by common novice users; Open Source Software (OSS) is thus no longer a reserved arena for software developers and computer gurus. Although user-centered designs are gaining popularity in OSS, usability is still not considered as one of the prime objectives in many design scenarios. In this paper, we analyze industry users perception of usability factors, including understandability, learnability, operability and attractiveness, on OSS usability. The research model of this empirical study establishes the relationship between the key usability factors and OSS usability from industrial perspective. In order to conduct the study, a data set of 105 industry users is included. The results of the empirical investigation indicate the significance of the key factors for OSS usability.