Free/Libre Open Source Quality Models - a comparison between two approaches

This paper presents a comparison of a first generation software quality model (OpenBRR) and a second generation software quality model (QualOSS) by applying them to the case of Asterisk, a FLOSS implementation of a telephone private branch exchange (PBX, VoIP). Examining the trends and evolution of software quality models and identifying differences in the approaches and assessment outcomes, the results indicate significant progress in the development of open source quality models. However, it appears that tool support, which characterizes the second generation quality model, does not achieve to fully support the need for human interference. Therefore, future FLOSS quality models might call either for an even stronger reliance on tools and the abandonment of the human factor, or for an effective integration of both; the human factor and tools support. Effective, in this regard, means that the subjectivity aligned with human interference becomes marginal. At any rate, it appears that there is still a way to go.