Is Open Source Software "Better" Than Closed Source Software? Using Bug-Fix Rates to Compare Software Quality

Abstract

If free software is also better software, as is claimed, we should all be downloading programs one day. While software quality itself is hard to define and measure, one can compare the rate of change of quality of open and closed source programs by comparing three pairs of comparable programs. Estimates of a hazard rate model find that the open source version of two programs are modified more quickly in response to bug reports. The two "faster response" open source programs are supported by communities of user-developers, whereas a third "slower response" program was written by programmers who were paid to develop the software for others. Thus open source software is found to undergo improvements more rapidly when it is produced and maintained by its users.