Selection of Open Source Components - A Qualitative Survey in Norwegian IT Industry

Abstract

Empirical research is performed to verify theories, develop new theories, or extend the existing ones, and improve practice. This study is mainly used to gain understanding about the selection of OSS components with the ultimate goal to improve the software development practice in industry, particularly to improve the practice of selection of OSS components. This study does can not be used directly to improve the practice of selection and evaluation of OSS components, because further and larger studies needs to be performed in the future to support our results. It is anyway a good step toward the final goal. We have used the role: integrator of open source, because this is the most appropriate for the research we have performed. More and more companies integrate open source components in their products because the benefits are large. Therefore, improving the practice about the selection of OSS components may help software companies to decrease the time spent. If the time spent is too large, this can offset the advantages of integrating OSS components. The results of the interview are presented, 16 descriptive findings are formulated based on this. The literature study was very useful to gain understanding about the state-off-the-art but also to define the research questions.