What is Simulation?
“Simulation refers to a broad collection of methods and applications to mimic the behavior of
real systems, usually on a computer with appropriate software” [4]. In fact, simulation is used
and applied in many fields and contexts to get a better understanding of complex behavior of
systems in order to manage them better. Typically, simulation is useful in situations or context
where an analytical solution does not exist due to complexity of the behavior system variables
or other attendant features. The author has used and been using a type of simulation modeling
in researching Supply Chain Management [5] and Project Management [6] related issues.
Simulation modeling is creation of computer models of some activity, process or phenomena
for the purpose of study by manipulating it logically to understand how the real physical world
works. Simulation helps to answer questions that are otherwise to be learned by
experimenting with real systems and in many situations, conducting experiments on real
system is impossible, impractical, or prohibitively expensive. For example: consider using flight
simulators instead of flying real aircraft at the beginning stages of a pilot’s training.
Who, when, where, and why of Simulation.
Any standard simulation book provides in its introduction section or the first chapter answers
to the basic questions of who uses simulation. When is simulation useful? Alternatively, what
context is simulation most useful? Why to use simulation? What are the limitations of
simulation? Suffice it to recount here that simulation is used in a wide variety of fields and
industries. It is most useful where analytical solutions do not exist. A curious reader wanting
know more details about simulations and its use, is well advised to refer to a fairly effective
contribution to the Winder Simulation Conference 2004 by Carson [7]. As is well known, all
managers, decision makers need as much decision support as they can get when dealing with
complex business situations. Whoever needs to make effective decisions need decision support
tools in making better decisions will most likely at some point in time to simulation for help
and guidance.
CURRENT STUDY- PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE
As stated earlier most business enterprises as well as individual users can benefit from using
simulation models, tools for decision support in their daily routines. However, lack of suitable
and affordable tools/options and the financial costs in many cases become a big hurdle. Not
much attention is given in academic literature to the availability of and characteristics of open
source Simulation Software (OSSS). Further, this study also seeks to understand the user
activity on the SourceForge in respect of the simulation modeling to learn about success of OSS
simulation modeling applications. This study explores these issues with an analysis of
Simulation Software under Open source projects on Source-Forge, a large repository of open
source projects. The idea is to assess the available cost-free resources for simulation that may
be accessible and useful to small and medium business organizations that may not be able to
afford expensive proprietary software alternatives.
DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
Data Search on Sourceforege
The data was gathered using the open source software website www.sourceforge.net.
Collection of the data started on September 28 and finished on October 2, 2016. By using the
browse option on the website, it was possible to limit the search to “Science and Engineering”
domain and by looking up the available options by typing in the key words “Simulation
Software” in the search field. A whopping 101 pages of results showed up with 25 items per
page totaling a little over 2,500 different item of software. We then limited our analysis to the
top 250 results from these. There are different options to sort the results and we used the most