Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software (The MIT Press)

"An excellent international and interdisciplinary repository of the latest research and thinking on free and open software movements and practices. With this intellectual miracle, the editors and contributors pave the way to a new open science paradigm."--Claudio Ciborra, London School of Economics and IULM, Milan, author of *The Labyrinths of Information* " Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software is the most comprehensive collection of writings on open source software that I have seen. The authors tackle the difficult questions that surround its success, from what motivates developers to write software for free to how companies can incorporate the best of the open source model into their environments." Martin Fink , Vice President, Linux, Hewlett-Packard "This is a carefully written, well-argued book that synthesizes a lot of good original research on the user-centered model of innovation. It makes a significant contribution to our general understanding of the innovation process in an area where our knowledge is especially thin. A thought-provoking and extremely valuable book."--Carliss Y. Baldwin, William L. White Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, coauthor of *Design Rules: The Power of Modularity* "*Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software* is the most comprehensive collection of writings on open source software that I have seen. The authors tackle the difficult questions that surround its success, from what motivates developers to write software for free to how companies can incorporate the best of the open source model into their environments."--Martin Fink, Vice President, Linux, Hewlett-Packard

What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software that can be freely used, modified, and redistributed transformed industry and society, as some predicted, or is this transformation still a work in progress? Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software brings together leading analysts and researchers to address this question, examining specific aspects of F/OSS in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to real-life managerial and technical concerns. The book analyzes a number of key topics: the motivation behind F/OSS-why highly skilled software developers devote large amounts of time to the creation of "free" products and services; the objective, empirically grounded evaluation of software-necessary to counter what one chapter author calls the "steamroller" of F/OSS hype; the software engineering processes and tools used in specific projects, including Apache, GNOME, and Mozilla; the economic and business models that reflect the changing relationships between users and firms, technical communities and firms, and between competitors; and legal, cultural, and social issues, including one contribution that suggests parallels between "open code" and "open society" and another that points to the need for understanding the movement's social causes and consequences.