Many people complain that open source software isn’t as user-friendly as closed source (commercial) software. I disagree.

I will argue that open source software is more user-friendly than closed source software. First of all, open source authors welcome feedback from their users with mailing lists, discussion forums, and bug tracking lists. This enables the users to become part of the development process which is a crucial part of creating usable software.

As I explained to a colleague over the weekend, I believe that the simple fact that open source software can be modified by users makes it better. Some commercial software behavior can be modified with plug-ins and APIs, but those can only do so much, and users are getting more and more sophisticated and demanding (aka expert) every day.