Open Source Software is 5 times Buggier than Propietary Software

[Kristijntje]

In our research using automatic bug-hunting technology, no open-source project we analyzed had fewer software defects (per thousand lines of code) than the top-of-the-line closed-source application. That proprietary code, written for an aerospace company, is better than the best in open source—more than five times better, in fact. That company's software won't let you down when you're flying from New York to London.

Of the more than 150 open-source and proprietary software applications that we have analyzed in this study, closed-source software code grabbed 11 of the top 15 spots for the highest quality and security...

The irony is that our research shows that on average, open-source software is of higher quality than proprietary software. Indeed, open-source projects tend to clump together in the higher-quality range. Proprietary software applications scatter across the quality continuum, but the best ones tend to be considerably better than open source, and customers don't choose software based on industry averages...

full article: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...3a.rss1007