A supply side story for a threshold model: Endogenous growth of the free and open source community

The study of social institutions producing and disseminating knowledge has mainly concentrated on two main concepts: Science and Technology. This paper examines a recent institutional form that seems not to resemble either of the other two; that is, knowledge-intensive communities, where individuals freely exchange knowledge through information and communication technology. Using free and open source software as an example, we develop a model where this phenomenon is confronted with Technology with respect to its ability to attract researchers.

A supply side story for a threshold model: Endogenous growth of the free and open source community

The study of social institutions producing and disseminating knowledge has mainly concentrated on two main concepts: Science and Technology. This paper examines a recent institutional form that seems not to resemble either of the other two; that is, knowledge-intensive communities, where individuals freely exchange knowledge through information and communication technology. Using free and open source software as an example, we develop a model where this phenomenon is confronted with Technology with respect to its ability to attract researchers

Motivations, Team Dynamics, Development Practices and How They Impact the Success of Open Source Software: A Study of Projects of Code for America Brigades

Open data movement has nurtured the growth of civic open source software (OSS) in the recent decade. This emerging phenomenon has demonstrated a way that a community can collectively utilize technology to solve its problems. This study is based on software projects in brigades of Code for America, which is a network of organizations that group volunteers to create digital solutions to community problems. In this study, we analyze the software engineering practices of current civic open source software development, participants\u27 motivations and perceptions of the projects, and provide insights on the antecedents of success of the application development. A conceptual model is developed to capture potential correlated factors and determinants of the success of civic OSS. We find that leadership, team member\u27s identification as a core team member, and his/her perception of the public benefit level of the project are predictors for his/her satisfaction level. Additionally, we find that compared to team members who are very uninterested in the technologies used in the projects, those who have strong interests in the technologies experience an increase in the odds of stronger willingness to continue in the projects

Open Source Projects as Incubators of Innovation: From Niche Phenomenon to Integral Part of the Software Industry

Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. I begin with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relation- ships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of four ideal-typical variants of current open source projects that differ significantly in their modes of coordination and the degree of corporate involvement. Further, I examine why open source projects have mainly lost their subversive potential while, in contrast to former cases of collective invention, remaining viable beyond the emergence of predominant solutions and their commercial exploitation: In an industry that is characterized by very short innovation cycles, open source projects have proven to be important incubators for new product lines and branch-defining infrastructures. They do not compete against classical forms of production but instead complement and expand these.In den letzten 20 Jahren ist die Open-Source-Entwicklung zu einem integralen Bestand der Softwareindustrie und zu einem zentralen Baustein der Innovationsstrategien aller großen IT-Anbieter geworden. Vor diesem Hintergrund entfaltet dieses Papier einen systematisierenden Überblick über Open-Source-Communities und ihre sozioökonomischen Kontexte. Nach einer historischen Rekonstruktion zur Ausdifferenzierung quelloffener Softwareprojekte und ihren sich wandelnden Relationen zu etablierten Unternehmen werden vier Varianten derzeitiger Open-Source-Projekte voneinander abgegrenzt, die sich in ihren Koordinationsweisen und dem Grad ihrer Unternehmensnähe signifikant voneinander unterscheiden. Daran anknüpfend wird herausgearbeitet, aus welchen Gründen Open-Source-Projekte inzwischen ihre subversive Formatierung weitgehend verloren haben, aber im Gegensatz zu früheren Ausprägungen kollektiver Invention überlebensfähig geblieben sind: In einer durch sehr kurze Innovationszyklen geprägten Softwareindustrie haben sich quelloffene Entwicklungsvorhaben als zentrale Inkubatoren für neue Produktlinien und branchenfundamentale Infrastrukturen erwiesen. Projektförmige Arbeitsweisen in Open-Source-Gemeinschaften und eingespielte Formen ökonomischer Koordination stehen nicht in einem konkurrierenden, sondern in einem komplementären Verhältnis zueinander

The Allocation of Software Development Resources In ‘Open Source’ Production Mode

This paper aims to develop a stochastic simulation structure capable of describing the decentralized, micro-level decisions that allocate programming resources both within and among open source/free software (OS/FS) projects, and that thereby generate an array of OS/FS system products each of which possesses particular qualitative attributes. The core or behavioral kernel of simulation tool presented here represents the effects of the reputational reward structure of OS/FS communities (as characterized by Raymond 1998) to be the key mechanism governing the probabilistic allocation of agents’ individual contributions among the constituent components of an evolving software system. In this regard, our approach follows the institutional analysis approach associated with studies of academic researchers in “open science” communities. For the purposes of this first step, the focus of the analysis is confined to showing the ways in which the specific norms of the reward system and organizational rules can shape emergent properties of successive releases of code for a given project, such as its range of functions and reliability. The global performance of the OS/FS mode, in matching the functional and other characteristics of the variety of software systems that are produced with the needs of users in various sectors of the economy and polity, obviously, is a matter of considerable importance that will bear upon the long-term viability and growth of this mode of organizing production and distribution. Our larger objective, therefore, is to arrive at a parsimonious characterization of the workings of OS/FS communities engaged across a number of projects, and their collective productive performance in dimensions that are amenable to “social welfare” evaluation. Seeking that goal will pose further new and interesting problems for study, a number of which are identified in the essay’s conclusion. Yet, it is argued that that these too will be found to be tractable within the framework provided by refining and elaborating on the core (“proof of concept”) model that is presented in this paper.

Open Source, Free Software and Contractual Issues

“Free software” is an increasingly used form to license computer programs, which on the one hand gives users the rights to use, modify and redistribute the program; and, on the other, forces any person redistributing an original or modified version of the program to license it with the same rights. Such a forced obligation is introduced through the so called “copyleft clause” and, basically, uses Copyright in a creative way to achieve freedom instead of control. This paper discusses the “free software” foundations and contractual issues. The discussion is structured in two main parts and Conclusion. In Part II, the emergence of “free software” and its implications in different fields will be exposed. I will seek to explain how the “copyleft clause” affects the ways in which software is developed and distributed. Moreover, I will explain the common points and differences between “free software” and “open source software”. In Part III, the contractual issues raised by the peculiarity of the “copyleft clause” will be addressed. I will argue that the license agreement which contains the “copyleft clause” is not a mere copyright non-contractual license, but a contract. This fact triggers a number of contract related questions, which I will seek to resolve from the U.S. perspective. In particular, I will address the concerns about lack of consideration; validity of clickwrap and shrinkwrap licenses; possible consequences of lack of privity between licensor and licensee; the enforceability of the warranty disclaimer included in most copyleft licenses; and the relation between Copyright and contractual provisions. Finally, the paper will end summarizing the main conclusions drawn in the two main parts mentioned above