Paula Bach over on Port 25 talked about how to go hybrid yesterday, but she's not talking about cars.

She's talking about how proprietary companies are borrowing techniques from the open source community and how certain successful communities are going commercial.

For me, the interesting part is that she specifically calls out usability as an area where open source is typically lacking.  I couldn't agree more. 

I think one of the key reasons people stay with proprietary software vendors is that they put a lot of work into the user experience whereas it's usually an afterthought (or worse) for the average open source project.

Apple's success in designing and selling beautiful hardware and software clearly shows that people are willing to pay a premium for an enjoyable experience.  That enjoyment comes in no small part from the efforts of talented user experience experts.  These people focus solely on the user and how he or she will perceive the feel of a product, the consistency across features, the use of empty space, the judicious application of color, the use of intelligent defaults, and the like.

At OpenLogic, user experience professionals help design new features for our OLEX site to make sure we convey a lot of information in a manner that doesn't overwhelm our users.  We also continue to hone our layout, style, and content over time to incorporate end user feedback. 

All this takes work takes time, effort, and a skill set that's not found in the average programmer.  I think this goes a long way to explain why open source projects have trouble in this area.

Perhaps up-and-coming user experience professionals will realize that, just like programmers, doing a good job on a very public open source project is a phenomenal way to show off their talents to the world.  It's a great way to get real-world experience and an incredible resume booster.

So, come on all you creative designers and usability people, pick an open source project and show us your stuff!

BTW, I'm not surprised to see Microsoft talking about usability in open source.  It's what I expected from them as it plays into their strengths.