O software livre e as empresas informáticas: das tensões latentes às soluções híbridas

O software livre conheceu, nos últimos anos, uma expansão acelerada, por todo o mundo, sugerindo transformações muito consideráveis num sector-chave das actuais economias: o informático. Como estão as empresas de software portuguesas a adaptar-se a este novo cenário e, em particular, a reagir à “solução livre”. Com base nos dados de um inquérito representativo às empresas de software a actuar em Portugal, o presente artigo constata que as empresas a produzir software livre são uma minoria, mas já significativa (16%), deste universo, não se distinguindo muito, em termos de modelo morfológicos, das restantes. Pelo contrário, os dados permitem formular a teoria de que, ao invés de uma possível cisão do mercado informático (entre produtores “livres” e “proprietários”), assistimos a múltiplas formas de apropriação e recusa, configurando diferentes níveis e sentidos de envolvimento, e favorecendo os modelos empresariais híbridos.Free software, in the last years, had known a rapid increase, all over the world. This fact suggests that we’re towards deep changes in one of the most important sectors of economy: informatics. How are Portuguese software companies dealing with this new situation, and how do they deal with open source? This paper is based on a survey applied to Portuguese software companies, and it shows that, although there aren’t still many companies producing free software, there is already a significant minority (16%) of companies – not very different from the other ones – producing free software. Available data allows us to suggest that, instead of a deep split between free producers and proprietary ones, we’re facing multiple forms of appropriation, different levels and ways of involvement with this new model, and a major significance of hybrid solutions

Absorptive Capacity And Open Source Software Project Performance

The open source phenomenon is an exciting movement that is transforming traditional forms of software development. Some open source software (OSS) projects, such as Linux and Apache, are performing extremely well and rapidly replacing proprietary software in major corporations and governments. In addition to these highly publicized examples, there are legions of OSS projects that have not experienced a similar uptake. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how and why some OSS projects are able to perform better than others. It explores antecedents of OSS project performance from a knowledge-focused perspective because software development is a knowledge-intensive activity. In particular, it examines the development and effects of absorptive capacity for an OSS project. Absorptive capacity captures the degree to which an organization is able to acquire and assimilate knowledge. In describing how OSS absorptive capacity is developed, this dissertation identifies characteristics and behaviors of project participants that indicate an OSS project's absorptive capacity. I underscore the importance of the characteristics and behaviors of two different sets of project participants in an OSS project: those in the Internet-based user community and those in the development group. To the extent that absorptive capacity influences OSS project performance, I argue that these characteristics and behaviors are critical for OSS project performance. Archival data about OSS projects that use the SourceForge platform are used to empirically test the model developed. This dissertation makes several contributions to theory and practice. The research informs project managers regarding the participants to target and behaviors to encourage that will lead to superior performance for their OSS project. In exploring the effect of absorptive capacity in an OSS project, this dissertation adds to the absorptive capacity literature by examining the interaction of two dimensions of this construct: knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer. Finally, this dissertation extends the OSS literature by specifically exploring the effect of the Internet-based user community on OSS project performance

Arbeitsgestaltung in der Softwareentwicklung:ein empirischer Vergleich subjektiver Arbeitsmerkmale in proprietären und Open-Source-Softwareprojekten

In der vorliegenden empirischen Studie wurden mit den Methoden der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie die Arbeitsgestaltung bei zwei Arten von Tätigkeiten miteinander verglichen: zum einen die Arbeitsgestaltung in Open-Source-Softwareentwicklungsprojekten und zum anderen die Arbeitsgestaltung im proprietären Umfeld der Softwareentwicklung. Es zeigte sich, dass die Tätigkeitsmerkmale der Komplexität in der Open-Source-Softwareentwicklung höher ausgeprägt sind als in der proprietären Softwareentwicklung. Kein eindeutiger Unterschied konnte für die sozialen Aspekte der Tätigkeit nachgewiesen werden. Außerdem wurde der Wirkungszusammenhang zwischen Tätigkeitsmerkmalen und organisationalen Kriterien untersucht. Es konnte jedoch nicht gezeigt werden, dass dieser für beide Arten von Tätigkeiten identisch ist. Insgesamt geben die Ergebnisse erste Hinweise auf Verbesserungsansätze für die Gestaltung von Tätigkeiten in der Softwareentwicklung und anderen Berufen

Open or Closed? The politics of software licensing in Argentina and Brazil

Whether software is licensed under terms which ‘close off’ or make accessible the underlying code that comprises software holds profound implications for development due to the centrality of this good to contemporary life. In the 2000s, developing countries adopted policies to promote free and open source software (F/OSS) for reasons of technological autonomy and to reduce spending on royalties for foreign produced proprietary software. However, the adoption of such policies varied across countries. Focusing upon Argentina and Brazil, two countries that reflect contrasting policy outcomes in promoting F/OSS, I explain why and how different policies came to be adopted by analysing the way in which institutions and patterns of association affected the lobbying power of advocates and opponents of F/OSS promotion. Advocates are generally weak actors, yet they might strengthen their lobbying power through embeddedness within political and state institutions which offer opportunities to mobilise resources and forge ties with political decision-makers. Opponents are generally strong, business actors, yet their lobbying power may be attenuated by weak concentration in business association, reducing their capacity to mobilise and coordinate support. In Argentina, where F/OSS advocates’ institutional embeddedness was weak and concentration in business association was strong, the government was prevented from promoting F/OSS, despite signs that it wished to do so. In Brazil, where F/OSS advocates’ institutional embeddedness was strong and concentration in business association was weak, the government promoted F/OSS despite vociferous opposition from amongst the largest firms in the world