Empirical study of open source software selection for adoption, based on software quality characteristics

• We use a new model of internal quality characteristics for selecting OSS.
• The model quality characteristics are system, information, service qualities.
• The proposed model is applied on eight different OSS systems.
• Open source learning management systems (Moodle, Sakai, ATutor and ALIAS).
• Open source network tools (ns-2, ns-3, Wireshark and FileZilla).

Currently, open source software (OSS) products have started to become popular in the market as an alternative to traditional proprietary or closed source software. Governments and organizations are beginning to adopt OSS on a large scale and several governmental initiatives have encouraged the use of OSS in the private sector. One major issue for the government and private sector is the selection of appropriate OSS. This paper uses new internal quality characteristics for selecting OSS that can be added to the dimensions of DeLone and McLean information systems’ model. Through this study, the quality characteristics are organized in a two level hierarchy, which list characteristics and sub-characteristics that are interconnected with three main dimensions: system quality, information quality and service quality. These characteristic dimensions are tailored to the criteria having been built from literature study and standard for software quality and guidelines. This paper presents case study results of applying the proposed quality characteristic on eight different open source software that are divided between open source network tools and learning management systems.