Hall, James2014-05-012014-05-012014-05-01https://hdl.handle.net/11299/163071Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Plan C Research PaperThis research examines the prevalent state of usability in open source software, focusing on the reasons why usability is often overlooked in the open source software noosphere. A usability test of GNOME, a popular open source software desktop environment, provides insights into the present development structure, and highlights areas for improvement. Analysis of the test data suggests features or themes of usability, and provides avenues of exploration to improve overall usability within open source software systems.en-USusabilityopen source softwareThesis or Dissertation