# The Challenges of Open Source Software Alternatives

- Institution: CERN
- Department: Conferences
- Speaker: Aristofanis Chionis
- Year: 2021
- Language: English
- Subjects: Physics, Computer science, Earth and environment
- Source: [CERN](https://videos.cern.ch/record/3008240)
- Licence: [CERN](http://copyright.web.cern.ch)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Developing an Open Source Software application is a challenge. Mainly because there are commercial alternatives that have an army of expert developers behind them, experienced supporters and well-established business processes in their development and promotion.

Nevertheless, web-based applications, that securely handle the users' personal data are an area of freedom and ease of use, features that make such applications very attractive. The "ease-of-use" part is very hard to achieve, for the developers and the end-users. Dependencies change often in OSS packages, so the fear that something breaks is always around the corner. If the application looks attractive, additional user requirements fall like rain. This poses a problem of continuity, maintenance and operational quality of the packages.

In this paper and presentation we shall share our experience in building such a tool, using https://cern.ch/slides, as a showcase and a learning exercise. We shall describe what was available, what was missing, how it was put together, how much effort it took, and what was achieved..

0:00:00 Slide 1

0:01:34 Slide 2

0:03:08 Slide 3

0:04:41 Slide 4

0:06:15 Slide 5

0:07:49 Slide 6

0:09:22 Slide 7

0:10:56 Slide 8

0:12:29 Slide 9

0:14:03 Slide 10

0:15:37 Slide 11

## Lectures

1. [The Challenges of Open Source Software Alternatives](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/cern/3008240/84273ef9d43b), 16 min (CERN's player)