Over the past few years, usability of free software has improved slightly. However, most free software even today has many problems in the design process. Let’s take a look at what these problems are and how they can be improved. We will one by one look at each issue that leads to poor usability for free software and discuss how to tackle these problems.

For software to fully achieve the goal of efficiency and user satisfaction, it is vital for the developers to pay close attention to each and every stage of the process of developing the software. It is essential for the developers to keep in mind the design as well as the usability. They must keep in mind that the complicated process of coding is just as important as the design of the software.

For years people have debated whether free software is as satisfying as the software made by significant companies such as Microsoft, etc. Although the idea of free software is very attractive and most of us would probably fall for it instead of paying hundreds of bucks for a fancy one made by Microsoft, but in reality, the phenomenon of free software comes with a lot of problems and there are certain measures that must be taken in order for it to compete successfully without compromising on usability and user satisfaction.

Following are some of the problems regarding free software usability and their proposed solutions:

Lack of strong incentives for the software makers

Most of the software developed for free usage is made by ‘volunteers’ who contribute to manufacturing of the software at various levels. They are volunteer coders and designers and their wages normally do not depend on the sales of the product, since they are not full time employees, unlike the employees of Microsoft or other software manufacturing companies.

In the proprietary software industry the success of the company and the well being of its employees both depend upon user satisfaction and usability efficiency. They make much more money by making products which are high in demand and hence pay attention to user satisfaction. On the other hand, the free software makers lack this incentive and pay little attention to improving usability. The number of users merely affects the financial well being of the developers of free software. Moreover, it is almost impossible to count the exact number of users of free software since it is freely redistributable.

Solution: In order to enhance usability; which is one of the major factors while designing software, it is necessary to trigger motivation among the software developers of the open source software industry. It is very important to give stronger incentives to the employees of open source software developers by giving them certain awards promoting insightful and creative work. A system of estimation of the number of users of particular software should be established in order to help the developers have an idea of user satisfaction and the statistics should be used as an incentive to increase usability.

Lack of attention to the Designing stage

It is a common notion that the most important part of software is its efficiency which in turn depends on the coding and hence, coding is regarded as the most important stage of software development and more attention is paid to the coding process by the open source software developers. However, it is a known fact that the coding process is only as important as the designing of the software and sometimes the significance of the design stage surpasses the significance of the coding process.

Let us look at it this way, the designers are the architects of the software and have the same role as any architect, which is to introduce creativity through their work and make designs which are not only efficient but also comforting and innovative. The coders are the labor force that is responsible for putting the architect’s ideas and vision into action by giving them a physical form. Just like in the building process the presence of a well rounded architect is vital to construct a well rounded building that not only provides shelter but is also a display of innovation, enhancing the satisfaction of the people living in it; the same is metaphorically true for the designers of software.

Solution: Although a lot of attention is paid to the designing process by big software industries such as Microsoft, however there is a visible lack of this in the free software industry and this directly affects the quality of the product and user satisfaction. In order to overcome this problem, developers should pay more attention to the design of their product by hiring more well qualified designers.

Unavailability of volunteer designers

The discussion on the lack of attention by developers to the design of their product brings us to the major reason behind it, which is the unavailability of the volunteer designers in the market. Although, there is a large number of “volunteer coders”, however, there is a major lack of volunteer designers and their unavailability causes a significant lack of creativity and innovation in open source products.

A musician might be a good composer as well but there is a very rare chance of that and most of the time a good musician and a good composer work together to make music that is worth listening to. Similarly, there are only a few coders who are also good designers, but that is very rare because programming and human interface design is very special skills that each requires separate training and a different mindset.

Solution: Free software industry should provide their programmers and designers with highly accessible and up to date training in order to increase the level of design competence. The volunteer designers should be given more incentives, and open source projects should have lead human interface designers as well as lead programmers in order to enhance the quality of their product and user satisfaction.

Design suggestions are not welcomed in projects

It is much easier and common for programmers to respond to the bug reports but the feedback or suggestions on the design are often unwelcome and uninvited in the industry. This is also one of the major reasons for a lack of volunteer designers in the market.