Investigating whether and how software developers understand open source software licensing

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Almeida ◽  
Gail C. Murphy ◽  
Greg Wilson ◽  
Michael Hoye
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Software Licensing

Evidence-Based Assurance to Support Process Quality in the F/OSS Community

2007 ◽  
pp. 120-146
Author(s):  
Anas Tawileh ◽  
Omer F. Rana ◽  
Wendy Ivins ◽  
Stephen McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Development Process ◽  
End Users ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Substantial Growth ◽  
Development Processes

This chapter investigates the quality issues of the free and open source software (F/OSS) development processes. It argues that software developed within the F/OSS paradigm has witnessed substantial growth rates within the software developers’ community. However, end users from outside the community are still sceptical about adopting F/OSS because of the perceived lack of quality assurance mechanisms within the F/OSS development process. The authors aim to promote higher adoption of F/OSS artefacts outside the developers’ community by exploring possibilities to provide appropriate evidence based assurances that F/OSS artefacts will meet the quality levels expected by users.

An empirical analysis of open source software developers’ motivations and continuance intentions

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chorng-Guang Wu ◽  
James H. Gerlach ◽  
Clifford E. Young
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Software Developers

scholarly journals USABILITY IN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: OPINIONS AND PRACTICE

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Sieker Andreasen ◽  
Henrik Villemann Nielsen ◽  
Simon Ormholt Schrøder ◽  
Jan Stage
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Usability Evaluation ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Commercial Software ◽  
Proprietary Software

Open Source Software (OSS) development has gained significant importance in the production of soft-ware products. Open Source Software developers have produced systems with a functionality that is competitive with similar proprietary software developed by commercial software organizations. Yet OSS is usually designed for and by power-users, and OSS products have been criticized for having little or no emphasis on usability. We have conducted an empirical study of the developers’ opinions about usability and the way usability engineering is practiced in a variety of OSS projects. The study included a questionnaire survey and a series of interviews, where we interviewed OSS contributors with both technical and usability backgrounds. Overall we found that OSS developers are interested in usability, but in practice it is not top priority, and OSS projects rarely employs systematic usability evaluation. Most of the efforts are based on common sense. Most developers have a very limited understanding of usability, and there is a lack of resources and evaluation methods fitting into the OSS paradigm.

scholarly journals Share and Share Alike: Understanding and Enforcing Open Source and Free Software Licenses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Carver
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
International Business ◽  
Free Software ◽  
District Court ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Software Licenses ◽  
Software Licensing

This paper describes the history and the commonly used software licensing terms of the free software and open source movements. It explains the GPL and discusses attempts to enforce the GPL. The GPL is a revolutionary copyright license that has allowed software developers to use existing law to copyright their work, while allowing licensees the freedoms to use, copy, modify, and distribute their work, but not to turn the work into a proprietary derivative. 2005 brought two notable efforts to enforce the license in court. A district court in Munich, Germany declared the GPL valid and enforceable. Meanwhile, litigation between The SCO Group (SCO) and International Business Machines (IBM) may clarify how U.S. courts will interpret the GPL. Suggested Citation: Brian W. Carver, Share and Share Alike: Understanding and Enforcing Open Source and Free Software Licenses, 20 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 443 (2005).

Motivation of Open Source Developers

2011 ◽  
pp. 233-249
Author(s):  
Mark R. Allyn ◽  
Ram B. Misra
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Organizational Design ◽  
Source Code ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Open Source Code ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Control ◽  
Work Done

The motivational drivers of open source software developers have been researched by various investigators since about 2000. This work shows that developers are motivated by different extrinsic and intrinsic drivers, among them community aspirations, reciprocity and fairness, creative impulses, and monetary and career ambitions. There has been some work done in studying whether the profile of developer motivations is constant across open source projects or is sensitive to project organizational design. Among the many factors that could influence the mix of motives of OS developers is the license under which the work is performed. Licenses range in openness between those such as the GNU GPL that severely restrict the freedom of developers to mingle their OS code with proprietary code to those such as BSD licenses which allow programmers much greater latitude in integrating open source code with proprietary code. In addition to formal rules, meritocracies emerge to reward effort and performance, and also to direct, coordinate, and control other participants. The authors discuss these variables and how they may be related to motivations.

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