Counterpoint - Back to the user
David G. Messerschmitt · IEEE Software · 2004
Open source is incomplete as a software creation process, somebody has to understand needs, design an architecture accommodating long-term evolution; create a working prototype as starting point; provide a talented; centralized person or group to coordinate and govern; and provide support, training, certification. These critical tasks hardly differ between open source and traditional processes. Application often have a diversity of uses and legitimate variations in needs that evolve over time. Efficiently capturing commonalities while accommodating variation and evolution is crucial to expanding the application base. Open source can't accommodate this gracefully. So open source fails organizational and nonprogrammer users.