A consortium consisting of leading European Open Source projects, consultants and research bodies has secured EU funding to measure the quality of Open Source software.
Software Quality Observatory for Open Source Software (SQO-OSS) has raised €2.47 million to build tools that will enable software companies and Open Source projects to benchmark the quality of their application's source-code and prove its suitability for enterprise deployment.
The project aims to address one of the perceived barriers to entry in the adoption of Open Source software - proof that software which is free and publishes its source-code can out-perform expensive, brand-marketed software.
Lead by the Athens University of Economics and Business, consortium participants include UK-based Sirius Corporation, KDE e.V. and ProSyst in Germany, KDAB in Sweden and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
The project will:
* Deliver a plug-in based quality assessment platform, featuring a web and an IDE front-end.
* Develop a set of software metrics that will take into account quality indicators from data that is present in an Open Source project's repository.
* Publish a league of Open Source software applications, categorised by their quality.
* Release its output under the BSD licence to stimulate business interest.
Professor Diomidis Spinellis, Project Lead said: "An industry matures when its products become standardised commodities. Through the objective evaluation of open source projects, SQO-OSS will provide many smaller and less known projects with the visibility and respectability they deserve."
About SQO-OSS
SQO-OSS is funded by project partners with matched funding from the European Commission via IST Project 033331 under the 6th Framework Programme. See the SQO-OSS website for more information.
About Athens University of Economics & Business
In a research carried out by Der Spiegel magazine among 500 European Universities, AUEB ranked in the top 5%. AUEB has been selected by the European Union as the Center of Excellence for European Studies in Greece. For more information visit the AUEB website.
For more on Professor Diomidis Spinellis visit his website.
About Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest university in Greece. For more information visit the AUTH website.
About Sirius Corporation
Sirius Corporation is a leading European IT services group specialising in enterprise-ready Open Source software including databases, email systems, file & print, directory services, and cross-platform authentication. Client's include blue-chip multi-nationals and public sector organisations. For more information visit the Sirius Corporation website.
About the KDE e.V.
KDE e.V. is a registered non-profit organization that represents the KDE Project in legal and financial matters. KDE (K Desktop Environment) is a free desktop environment and development platform. It runs on most Unix and Unix-like systems, such as Linux, BSD, AIX, Unixware, OpenServer and Solaris. For more information visit the KDE website.
About ProSyst
ProSyst Software is a leading provider of Embedded Java and OSGi compliant software, offering end-to-end solutions for the network-based control of devices and for the delivery of services and applications into vehicles and homes. For more information visit the ProSyst website.
About KDAB
Klaravdalens Datakonsult AB (KDAB) is an international software company with headquarters in Sweden. KDAB develop contracted platform-independent software solutions for MS Windows and Linux (and other Unix variants). For more information visit the KDAB website.
For more information or interviews contact Maz Khan at Sirius Corporation.
