scholarly journals De-Commodifying Software? Open Source Software Between Business Strategy and Social Movement

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Ursula Holtgrave ◽  
Raymund Werle
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Movement Type ◽  
Hacker Culture

Focusing on open source software the origin, development and organisation of a process of de-commodification is examined in an industry that usually relies on strong provisions to protect intellectual property. Open source denotes a cooperative and voluntary mode of software development cross-cutting organisational boundaries and transcending relations of market exchange. Starting with the Open Systems Movement in the late 1970s, which was driven by business strategic and industrial policy interests and complemented by a spirit of mutual support in professional communities, a social movement type of collective action has emerged which develops knowledge as a public good. Competent communities share the norms of the hacker culture and cooperate in informal relations challenging the boundaries between private and public goods. But the open source idea has also been transformed into a business strategy by companies who provide basic software products for free and make money with complementary products and services.

Establishing Ethos on Proprietary and Open Source Software Websites

2014 ◽  
pp. 915-935
Author(s):  
Kevin Brock
Keyword(s):  
Operating System ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Image Manipulation ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Tremendous Amount ◽  
Rhetorical Appeals

The increasing prominence and variety of open source software (OSS) threaten to upset conventional approaches to software development and marketing. While a tremendous amount of scholarship has been published on the differences between proprietary and OSS development, little has been discussed regarding the effect of rhetorical appeals used to promote either type of software. This chapter offers just such an examination, focusing its scrutiny on the websites for three pairs of competitors (operating system, Web browser, and image manipulation program). The means by which the OSS websites promote their programs provide a significant set of insights into the potential trajectory of OSS development and its widespread public acceptance, in terms of both its initial philosophy and its perceived alternative nature to traditional software products and models.

Open Source Software Adaptation in Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 1708-1722
Author(s):  
Abubakar Diwani Bakar ◽  
Abu Bakar Md. Sultan ◽  
Hazura Zulzalil ◽  
Jamilah Din
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Global Network ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Software Adaptation ◽  
Proprietary Software ◽  
Wide Availability ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Software Practitioners

The African continent has long benefited from adopting OSS in its private and public organizations that have changed their way of development, the use and how to acquire proprietary software. This frequency of adaptation does not appear to be in balance with the contribution to the OSS community. Using views from experienced software practitioners working in different organizations across two African countries it has been observed that neglected infrastructure, a wide availability of proprietary software and misconceptions of a clear meaning of Open Source Software across Africa have been an obstacle towards the participation in the OSS technology in the global network.

Structural Epochs in Software

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A Gray ◽  
Bo Sandén ◽  
Phillip Laplante
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
Method Class ◽  
Structural Levels ◽  
Structural Shifts

A way to measure the complexity of object-oriented software involves topological features of the code's hierarchical organization at the method, class, package, and component levels. Sangwan et al (2008) suggested that as certain software products evolve, this complexity shifts from lower to higher structural levels, or vice-versa. They studied three widely used open source software programs and showed that these structural shifts called “epochs” were present and suspected that this phenomenon was pervasive. To support or refute this assertion, 30 open source programs were studied and structural shifts in complexity were found significantly in 27 of them. In those projects where no complexity shift was evident, no refactoring had occurred. These findings further suggest that in large, open source software projects, when refactoring occurs a shifting in complexity from one level to another will occur.

Towards a Conceptual Framework for Open Systems Developments

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Cowling ◽  
Christopher V. Morgan ◽  
Robert Cloutier
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
System Development ◽  
Systems Development ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Engineering Discipline ◽  
Development Approach

The systems engineering discipline has made great strides in developing a manageable approach to system development. This is predicated on thoroughly articulating the stakeholder requirements. However, in some engineering environments, requirements are changing faster than they can be captured and realized, making this ‘traditional' form of systems engineering less tenable. An iterative system refinement approach, characterized by open systems developments, may be a more appropriate and timely response for fast-changing needs. The open systems development approach has been utilized in a number of domains including open source software, Wikipedia®, and open innovation in manufacturing. However, open systems development appears difficult to recreate successfully, and while domain tradecraft advice is often available, no engineering management methodology has emerged to improve the likelihood of success. The authors discuss the essential features of openness in these three domains and use them to propose a conceptual framework for the further exploration of the effect of governance in determining success in such open endeavors. It is the authors' hope that further research to apply this conceptual framework to open source software projects may reveal some rudimentary elements of a management methodology for environments where requirements are highly uncertain, volatile, or ‘traditional' systems engineering is otherwise sub-optimal.

Hacker Culture and the FLOSS Innovation

2011 ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Wei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
End Users ◽  
Culture Clash ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Ecological View ◽  
Ongoing Development ◽  
Hacker Culture ◽  
Over Time

This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of the free/libre open source software (FLOSS) innovation and how it is shaped by and also shapes various perceptions on and practices of hacker culture. Unlike existing literature that usually normalises, radicalises, marginalises, or criminalises hacker culture, I confront such deterministic views that ignore the contingency and heterogeneity of hacker culture, which evolve over time in correspondence with different settings where diverse actors locate. I argue that hacker culture has been continuously defi ned and redefi ned, situated and resituated with the ongoing development and growing implementation of FLOSS. The story on the development of EMACSen (plural form of EMACS—Editing MACroS) illustrates the consequence when different interpretations and practices of hacker culture clash. I conclude that stepping away from a fi xed and rigid typology of hackers will allow us to view the FLOSS innovation from a more ecological view. This will also help us to value and embrace different contributions from diverse actors including end-users and minority groups.

scholarly journals The Penguin Has Entered the Building: The Commercialization of Open Source Software Products

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Fosfuri ◽  
Marco S. Giarratana ◽  
Alessandra Luzzi
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Software Products

scholarly journals FLOSS developers as a social formation

First Monday ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frauke Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Social Formation ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Theoretical Approaches

Developers of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) are often referred to as a community or as a scene. But so far this seems mostly just a rough expression. This paper takes a closer look at FLOSS developers and their projects to find out how they work, what holds them together and how they interact. Community and social movement seem not to apply as descriptors. Looking at norms, values, structures, and conflict resolution, a hacker subculture appears which is compartmentalised into differently organised projects. By testing empirical findings against various theoretical approaches, ideas for further research are identified.

scholarly journals Assessing the Health of the Dark Web:

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Samuel Onyango ◽  
Emilie Steenvoorden ◽  
Joram Scholten ◽  
Slinger Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Software Ecosystem ◽  
Software Products ◽  
The World ◽  
Dark Web

AbstractA hidden part of the World Wide Web is known as the Dark Web, featuring websites that cannot be indexed by traditional search engines. Many open source software products are used to access and navigate through the Dark Web. Together they form the Dark Web open source software ecosystem. Research on this ecosystem is scarce and research on the ecosystem health is non-existent, even though ecosystem health is an useful indicator of the livelihood of an ecosystem. The goal of this research is to evaluate the health of the ecosystem through an assessment of Tor, I2P and GitHub. The Open Source Ecosystem Health Operationalization framework is used to help perform this assessment. Eight metrics from the framework are selected, which are measured using the data collected. Analysis of Tor and I2P metrics suggest that there has been an increase in Tor and I2P user activity in the recent past. Added knowledge, spin offs and forks and usage indicate active participation and interest in Tor and I2P. There has also been an increase in the number of active GitHub Dark Web projects. However, these GitHub projects are not well-connected and only a small number of projects have a large number of contributors. There is some variety among the GitHub software projects. The framework proves to be adequately capable of determining the health of the Dark Web open source ecosystem with the available data.

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