Open Source Software Development Challenges
Dec 16, 9:00AM to Dec 23 , 5:00PM BST

About this Event

 

The two-day Open Source London Computer Society virtual conference helps IT professionals to overcome the Open Source Software Development Challenges. 

 

Component-Based Software Development has become a popular approach to building software intensive systems. Besides using Commercial Off-The-Shelf components, an organization may choose to use Open Source Software components. Using OSS has been reported to have many benefits, but there are also challenges involved. Understanding the potential challenges of using OSS in developing products is important for practitioners, so they become aware of them and can anticipate them and take appropriate measures to address these challenges. We have performed a thorough review of the literature to identify challenges that may arise, as reported in the literature. This paper presents and discusses these findings. Researchers can discuss potential causes and solutions of our synthesized findings as well as benefit from provided references to literature on OSS challenges as input for future research.

 

The two-day Open Source London Computer Society virtual conference is also available as a client customised private course via EventsX. Please contact the course administrator for details.

 

The Open Source London Computer Society virtual conference is already being delivered to a number of private organisations and the feedback is excellent.

 

Who should attend:

 

The programme is particularly suited for:

  • Software Engineers
  • Software Architecture
  • Analysts
  • Policy officers
  • Information professionals
  • Researchers
  • Librarians
  • Communication & PR professionals

 

Why you should attend:

 

  • The straight-forward training will turn the complex into the simple and equip delegates with the practical skills needed to improve their research skills and access relevant and trusted information to assist decision support
  • All the digital tools used are free and easy to use – they are cloud services and can be accessed after the training on any PC, laptop, tablet or mobile
  • Gain hands-on, practical skills and the confidence to immediately use advanced search and research skills in everyday work
  • Create an Open Source London Computer Society dashboard (using the free version of Hootsuite) that can be used immediately for everyday work and enhanced over time
  • Learn how to identify influencers, enhance information gathering and improve decision support

 

 

What are the benefits:

 

  • Practical, applicable, hands-on training that can be applied immediately
  • The course includes practical exercises to assist learning
  • Increase productivity
  • Confidence and empowerment based on acquiring practical hands-on skills
  • Understand the advanced search capabilities of Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Hootsuite as well as a range of additional digital tools
  • Learn how to identify influencers, enhance intelligence gathering and improve decision making

 

What previous delegates have said about the course:

 

"This should be a mandatory course. So many of us could benefit from knowing how to conduct more focussed searches for data or identifying influencers that this should be a "must-do" for most across the network"

"The information on Google advanced searches will really help me out with research and will save me lots of time"

"I loved all of the practice sessions - they helped lock in the learning pretty quickly - learning by doing!"

"Andy was a great instructor, kept the drumbeat moving and gave really helpful actionable insight"

 

What you will get:

  • Two-day virtual training from an expert
  • Delegate numbers limited to a maximum of 500 per course
  • One-month help-desk support by phone or e-mail after the training
Sponsors
Gold sponsor
Silver sponsor
Bronze sponsor
Schedule
Dec 01 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Stage
Open Source London Computer Society for IT professionals virtual conference
Open Source Software Development Challenges
Dec 01 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Open Source Software Development Challenges Updates
Open-source software is accessible and easy to implement, but it also poses some challenges. For instance, this type of software does not have a vendor releasing updates. Instead, developers must seek them out. To ensure they do, leaders must implement governance programs that require IT teams to manage patch through and updates to ensure they remain secure and functional
Dec 01 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Presentation: Career paths—universities and courses
A detailed presentation of the different career paths available to university students depending on what degree they choose
Dec 02 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Community and Licensing
Making sure the software is maintained and has a large community to carry on its support, is crucial. Savvy teams could research the software better to look at the community history and involvement and contributors to the project. Another thing to be aware of is open source doesn’t always mean that it’s free. Also, making sure the licensing agrees with your business model and use case is extremely important
Dec 02 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Security
Open-source platforms can increase the risk of security breaches. You should consult with an IT security expert before committing to an open-source platform. A security professional should be able to help install safeguards to protect your data and prevent a cyber-attack on your business.
Dec 02 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Confusing Complexity
It can become so complex that it goes against the functionality you are trying to create. It helps to have a developer team that can work through all of the open-source work and systematically works on integrating what others are trying to do. Collaborating on these features and integrations also helps both our business and those we are trying to assist
Dec 02 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Compatibility
In addition to issues with certain closed-source programs not working well with open-source ones, compatibility can also be an issue when your company is staffed with professionals who aren’t familiar with the software in question that prefers a closed-source alternative. In both of these cases, there are no easy solutions: You just have to commit to the necessary changes to make it work
Dec 02 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Learning Curve
For business owners who aren’t especially tech-savvy, open-source software such as WordPress can sometimes come with a steep learning curve. So, before you decide to use open-source software, test it out first. Read some online tutorials to see if you can get a handle on it. Alternatively, you can also check to see if someone on your team is skilled with the software and have them teach you
Dec 03 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Not Prioritizing a Policy
The first thing you need to do is outline a policy for your business or organization on your open-source usage. Without it, developers on your team will use any components that they choose, which could cause multiple issues down the line. Establishing a clear, written policy is the best way to ensure you don’t run into incompatibilities or issues later on
Dec 03 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Software Development Training
Open source typically doesn’t have as great a set of training manuals and resources as the paid-and-packaged stuff. It’s important to make sure that you are able to implement the right training strategy for your team when you are going this route. Not recommended for big teams, that’s for sure
Dec 04 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Lack of Customer Support
One challenge we’ve found with using some open-source software is in the lack of customer support. Oftentimes, you’ll need to reference an online forum when it’s easier to get someone on the phone to help. One way that we’ve overcome the lack of human customer support is by seeking answers in forums and also contributing to those forums. If you’ve figured something out, share how and help someone
Dec 05 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Mystery Sources
When using open-source software that you didn’t create, you run into a problem with figuring out which sources are making changes to the code you’re using. This poses a serious problem, especially for business owners, because with the use of some open-source software you could unknowingly expose your hard work to hackers and exploits
Dec 08 9:00AM–5:00PM BST · Session
Q & A
Open Source Software Development Challenges
Speakers
David Ellis
Product Owner
Hilary Kiely
Software Developer
Julia Kallman
Information Security Expert
Katherine Irving
Open Source Database Specialist
Maggie Baker
UI/UX expert
Tony Partaker
Software Developer