New Open Quality Initiative to Improve Java Software Quality

Agitar Software has announced a new multi-vendor initiative devoted to improving the quality of Java software by exposing the thoroughness of testing.

Under its Open Quality Initiative, Agitar publishes extensive unit-level testing metrics about its own products, including formal weekly-build results of its upcoming unannounced products and trends over time. Agitar also publishes these testing metrics for popular open-source Java projects, including Hibernate, JUnit, Struts, Cruise Control, Spring, and commercial open source products such as JasperSoft’s JasperServer and Oracle’s BerkeleyDB Java edition.

Available at the new web site, www.openquality.org, are:

* Agitar’s Open Quality metrics on its own commercial products;
* The metrics for popular open-source projects and the products of other
initiative participants;
* Quality-Level Agreement (QLA) templates that establish binding
acceptance-quality criteria for in-house, offshore, or outsourced
software development.

Agitar challenges other software companies to publish testing metrics for their own products and is making the Open Quality website available to all Java ISVs and SIs willing to go public with their testing data. Metrics on the quantity and quality of unit tests are a very effective and objective way to measure the depth of testing as the code is developed. Unit tests are evidence that quality was “built into” the code and help ensure that quality remains high as the software is changed. The initiative’s goal is to let developers and decision-makers know how thoroughly the code they use has been unit-tested — the bedrock of quality.

“Enterprises deploying open source software need to be able to trust its quality, security, and readiness. Agitar’s approach of publicly disclosing test code, coverage, and results gives technologists the information they need to make good decisions,” said Bernard Golden, CEO of open source consultancy Navica Software and author of the Addison-Wesley book, Succeeding with Open Source. “The principles behind OpenQuality.org are equally applicable to proprietary software packages, and fit nicely in the Open Source Maturity Model, which customers use to assess the suitability of open source software for use in their organizations.”

Agitar is inviting other quality-conscious Java software providers — both open source and commercial — to participate in this initiative and in the development of additional meaningful quality metrics.

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