The two most popular open source bug tracking systems are Mantisbt and Bugzilla

In this writeup we are going to enlist some advantages and disadvantages of using either of the tools for issue and bug tracking.

Bugzilla
Its a Bug tracking system. Inherently web-based, written in Perl, and uses MySQL as its database back-end.
Advantages

1. Captures lots of data
2. Powerful reporting

Disadvantages

1. Slower compared to Mantisbt
2. Complicated to setup
3. Can get overwhelming too soon
4. Greater learning curve

Mantisbt
Mantis is a popular free web-based bug tracking system. It is written in the PHP scripting language and works with MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases
Advantages

1. Easy to setup, customize and maintain
2. Easy to understand
3. Can be easily adapted to an organizations software development process

Disadvantages

1. Compared to Bugzilla reporting is less sophisticated

Having worked with both, I will recommend Mantis simply because its is easy to use, adapt and maintain. Bugzilla is huge and has a lot of mumbo-jumbo that you may not need. Another advantage with Mantisbt is that it is cleanly coded and is hence easier to tweak and customize. But, you may find reporting a little weak in mantisbt.

Bugzilla is better suited for technical users, while non-tech users feel more comfortable with Mantis.

So, to conclude if you need a powerful issue tracking solution that is easier to setup, customize, use and maintain and if you feel the existing reporting in mantisbt satisfies your need then GO for Mantisbt.

Else, you can evaluate Bugzilla and other web based bug tracking systems. Bugzilla may get really overwhelming if you do not have a very complex need.

Check it here . Slides courtesy Patrick Chanezon.

 Also, another step in Enterprsie 2.0 is the mobility o workforce today, and Scott’s another presentation on the mobility factor is here below. 

{Slides courtsey of Scott Gavin}

But in the real world of development, we all are so self-centered and self-conscious human-beings that we stop thinking about people sometimes, and we start thinking about them as objects. It is not trivial to give importance to your team for all the work they are doing rather it should be one of the top priorities. Just imagine the gain here, knowledge sharing, and the drive to learn something new. And nothing else. And what is that you lose? Nothing, and with a helping hand you get an additional brain for your project. Motivation, thus, is an important factor. And plays big sometimes. As burning out brings distant teams, and some zealous team members.

Some teams fear on the perspective of changing the team dynamics. Thinking inside the box on project issues and concerns; keeping it to themselves. Their logic is utterly broken from the point of view where things start to fall apart, and in the end it makes the team members leave silently. This to an extent where in the end it is just the handful of resources are working on it needless to say filling void for the brains who have already left. Holding on to the current team or whatever team you’ve got there is very important.

I am compelled to say this that the only incentive your team is getting out of you is their “learning“, and to progress ahead with what they already know and what is their more to learn and a fun environment. And as long as you keep that in the focus for everyone they’ll stick around for as long as they have interests, and may be till the end of the project. People are easy to find, but good team members who are productive and don’t crap are rare. So hang on to them.

Click here to learn about this event.

After weeks of hard work, planning and running around, the day has finally arrived. We managed to get a good pool of tracks, workshops and speakers. Special thanks to CLUG (Shawn, John, Kin and Sam) for doing most of the leg work, and being an integral part of the planning committee. These are a special bunch of people, and I admire their passion for open source. SAIT (Mo and Harvey) our biggest partners, shares an equal open source vision with us and really came forward with open arms to help us out in the execution in any possible way they could with in their reach. And they are making it happen.

I would be speaking in the Open Source Panel scheduled from 4:00 pm through 4:50 pm. I’ll have more stories (and possibly pics) from the day’s  event.

I am representing Calgary Open Source Group (COSG) - a group which I founded couple of weeks ago, and which has now 36 members to date.

To learn more about COSSFEST, please visit here.

COSSFest 2007 is an exposition of open source technologies, welcoming new voices, tools and projects that will accompany established operating systems, platforms, languages and applications that started the open source movement. The beginning collaboration between two user groups and post-secondary education has been expanded to include new partners in making this event the biggest free technology event in Calgary.

COSSFest is the place for the open source community and their supporters to gather, exchange ideas and gain momentum. It is also a place for enterprise developers and managers to see and hear about competitive advantage in using open source technology. It is an opportunity to learn from and meet with users of open source who could profoundly affect Information Technology strategy in your organization.

There are already very interesting tracks and sessions confirmed for this event, ranging from Web 2.0, Collaborative frameworks to Ruby on Rails, and areas covering Linux. It’ll be fun to watch coming all this together on the event day. There are many things lined up for next couple of weeks. It is going to be very busy as we approach the event day.

To learn more about COSSFEST’07 visit the conference website here.

The other day I spent a good 30 minutes to understand the basics of latest Office’07. And I must admit that I was amazed with the styling but really what a mess! It took me a great deal to find simple thing such as “Save as” which is to my surprise was hidden in top left corner under the special Office logo! What the $%^#&? Anyhow, Microsoft might have the advantage of the general enterprise wide acceptance and similar user market, but with innovation like Office’07 they sure are making one hell of a life for the enterprise as well as the common user. Everything is not about style. It is about usability and applications own cleverness. By adding style Office’07 has added overhead with requirement of higher disk space, at least a gig of RAM and a faster processor, and without all this good luck with your Office’07 experience as your machine will be on Office’07 mercy. I strongly encourage Microsoft engineers to learn something from Apple engineers and Apple’s application design team.

At least, with Numbers Apple has accomplished what was the missing link in their office application suite - and with AppleWorks disappearance with OS 9 this surely is a delightful surprise to see a much effective and pleasant spreadsheet application.

Good job Apple and keep it going!!