http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspxLast week I spent two very worthwhile days in San Francisco at the Open Source Business Conference . Once again Matt Asay and friends put on a stellar conference. The speakers Matt was able to assemble were impressive and the halls were filled with manyen-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2)http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#407445Tue, 12 Apr 2005 06:23:53 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:407445Sushant BhatiaWhen I first looked at your blog post name, I thought you mean using Open Source means to test any product and not testing of Open Source Code. So I will make the distinction in this comment. <br>Open Source Testing - using 3rd party and general public for testing through test script generation and verification. This is highly evident in the realm of Web Services. Say a provider publishes a service to a directory service. The provider does his own testing and releases his test cases which users can use to verify that the web service does what it intends to do. Then the end-users could generate their own test scripts and upload it to the directory service for other end-users to see and use. Also the directory service can also come up with the test scripts. Thus, the &quot;open source&quot; of test scripts. Everyone can verify the provider. Not to go into too much detail (as this is patent pending material at our Uni), but this is a novel means of testing in my mind. <br> <br>What you were talking about is the use of test methodologies on Open Source Software. I'm sorry to say, I see nothing novel about it other than the fact that, as you rightly point out, the linus's law is a bunch of baloney and thus, there really is a need for real thorough testing. Am I missing something?http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#407458Tue, 12 Apr 2005 07:07:01 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:407458Lockergnome's Linux FanaticsIs Open Source testing on it's way to becoming a little bit trendy? I think it is not unreasonable to assume that it might eventually. Then again, in some ways Open Source has been on the upswing to 'trendy' for quite some time now....http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#410596Fri, 22 Apr 2005 02:10:04 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:410596RichI agree with several of your points. However, with respect to &quot;vendor lock-in&quot;, I think you're failing to consider an important difference between a completely proprietary solution and one with an OSS base, and proprietary addons. The reason why many customers fear lock-in is because, if the vendor goes out of business or the terms of the contract become too onerous, the customer may be in a real bind. With OSS, the customer's data, at least, is not locked away in any way. Consultants can be hired to replace any addon sugar that goes away with a defunct vendor. Sure, the cost is non-trivial, but its a heck of a lot less than having to do a lot of reverse engineering just to get at the data. <br> <br>I also take exception with your flat dismissal of the &quot;many eyes&quot; theory. It seems to work for those linux kernel writers. It may not be an inherent trait of all OSS programs, but certainly projects that are important to enough people who are capable of understanding the code, are going to get some very rapid bug turnaround times.http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#420995Mon, 23 May 2005 11:30:16 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:420995James Governorfad? i have been to reply to this. heh. soonhttp://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#459207Thu, 01 Sep 2005 21:17:46 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:459207Matusow's BlogSummer&amp;amp;nbsp;has been&amp;amp;nbsp;hard on my blogging. The sun seems to draw me away from my laptop and onto...http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#459390Fri, 02 Sep 2005 00:42:21 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:459390Matusow's BlogSummer&amp;amp;nbsp;has been&amp;amp;nbsp;hard on my blogging. The sun seems to draw me away from my laptop and onto...http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#459613Fri, 02 Sep 2005 06:03:40 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:459613MilenYour blog is very interesinthttp://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#462503Thu, 08 Sep 2005 20:52:53 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:462503Matusow's BlogStephen O'Grady posted a great response to my earlier posting on integration issues for OSS projects....http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonmatusow/archive/2005/04/11/407440.aspx#548443Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:41:26 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:548443jefstake2006@homtail.comJeniffer