Hello All, I am pleased to let you know of the following new papers on opensource.mit.edu. First a special thanks to Eric von Hippel, Georg von Krogh and Gary Pisano in convincing the publishers of Elsevier, the publishers of Research Policy, to allow for us to post online the drafts of papers to be published in a special issue of Research Policy on open source. Please note that the papers will be taken down when the journal is published, sometime this summer. So getem while they are hot! Here are the papers: Paper 1 Authors: Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Cristina Rossi Title Why open source software can succeed http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-bonaccorsirossi.pdf Abstract The paper discusses three key economic problems raised by the emergence and diffusion of open source software: motivation, coordination, and diffusion under a dominant standard. First the movement took off through the activity of a software development community that deliberately did not follow profit motivations. Second, a hierarchical coordination emerged without the support of an organization with proprietary rights. Third, Linux and other open source systems diffused in an evnvironment dominated by established proprietary standards, which benefited from significant increasing returns. The paper show that recent developments in the theory of critical mass in the diffusion of technologies with network externality may help to explain these phenomena. Paper 2 Authors Franke, Nik and Eric von Hippel Title: Satisfying Heterogeneous User Needs via Innovation Toolkits: The Case of Apache Security Software http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-vonhippelfranke.pdf Abstract Manufacturers customarily provide only a few product variants to address the average needs of users in the major segments of markets they serve. When user needs are highly heterogeneous, this approach leaves many seriously dissatisfied. One solution is to enable users to modify products on their own using “innovation toolkits.” We explore the effectiveness of this solution in an empirical study of Apache security software. We find high heterogeneity of need in that field, and also find that users modifying their own software to be significantly more satisfied than non- innovating users. We propose that the user toolkits solution will be useful in many markets characterized by heterogeneous demand.d.onality on offer. We also find that users creating their own software modifications are significantly more satisfied than are non-innovating users. We conclude by suggesting that the "toolkits for user innovation" approach to enhancing user satisfaction might be generally applicable to markets characterized by heterogeneous user needs. Paper 3 Authors: Hertel, Guido, Sven Niedner & Stefanie Herrmann Title: Motivation of Software Developers in Open Source Projects: An Internet-based Survey of Contributors to the Linux Kernel http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-hertelniednerherrmann.pdf Abstract: The motives of 141 contributors to a large Open Source Software project (the Linux kernel) was explored with an internet-based questionnaire study. Measured factors were both derived from discussions within the Linux community as well as from models from social sciences. Participants’ engagement was particularly determined by their identification as a Linux developer, by pragmatic motives to improve own software, and by their tolerance of time investments. Moreover, some of the software development was accomplished by teams. Activities in these teams were particularly determined by participants’ evaluation of the team goals as well as by their perceived indispensability and self-efficacy. Paper 4 Author: O'Mahony, Siobhan Title: Guarding the Commons: How Community Managed Software Projects Protect Their Work http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-omahony.pdf Abstract: Theorists often speculate why open source and free software project contributors give their work away. Although contributors make their work publicly available, they do not forfeit their rights to it. Community managed software projects protect their work by using several legal and normative tactics, which should not be conflated with a disregard for or neglect of intellectual property rights. These tactics allow a project’s intellectual property to be publicly and freely available and yet, governable. Exploration of this seemingly contradictory state may provide new insight into governance models for the management of digital intellectual property. Paper 5 Authors: von Krogh, Georg, Sebastian Spaeth & Karim R. Lakhani Title Community, Joining, and Specialization in Open Source Software Innovation: A Case Study http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-vonkroghspaethlakhani.pdf Abstract: This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software innovation process by focussing on the creation of Freenet, a project aimed at developing a decentralized and anonymous peer-to- peer electronic file sharing network. We are particularly interested in the strategies and processes by which new people join the existing community of software developers, and how they initially contribute code. Analyzing data from multiple sources on the Freenet software development process, we generate the constructs of "joining script", "specialization", "contribution barriers", and "feature gifts", and propose relationships among these. Implications for theory and research are discussed. Paper 6 Author: West, Joel Title How Open is Open Enough? Melding Proprietary and Open Source Platform Strategies http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-west.pdf Abstract: Computer platforms provide an integrated architecture of hardware and software standards as a basis for developing complementary assets. The most successful platforms were owned by proprietary sponsors that controlled platform evolution and appropriated associated rewards. Responding to the Internet and open source systems, three traditional vendors of proprietary platforms experimented with hybrid strategies which attempted to combine the advantages of open source software while retaining control and differentiation. Such hybrid standards strategies reflect the competing imperatives for adoption and appropriability, and suggest the conditions under which such strategies may be preferable to either the purely open or purely proprietary alternatives. Paper 7 Author: Zeitlyn, David Title: Gift economies in the development of open source software: Anthropological reflections http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-zeitlyn.pdf Building on Eric Raymond’s work this article discusses the motivation and rewards that lead some software engineers to participate in the open source movement. It is suggested that software engineers in the open source movement may have sub-groupings which parallel kinship groups such as lineages. Within such groups gift giving is not necessarily or directly reciprocated, instead members work according to the ‘axiom of kinship amity’ – direct economic calculation is not appropriate within the group. What Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic capital’ can be used to understand how people work in order to enhance the reputation (of themselves and their group). **************************************************************************************** Working Papers **************************************************************************************** Paper 1 Author: Ratto, Matt Title: Re-working by the Linux Kernel developers http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/ratto.pdf Abstract: Technology design is generally a matter of re-working existing systems rather than the designing of entirely novel artifacts. In this paper I explore part of a computer operating system called Linux that is designed to be re-worked by its users, a process I call 'designing for redesign'. I examine the practices of reworking within this development effort using some concepts gleaned from activity theory, a meta-theoretical model that particularly focuses on the simultaneously material and conceptual aspects of artifacts. This work is two- fold; first to examine design as part of a larger activity of re-working, and second, to begin to put together a model of socio-technical activity that incorporates the complex epistemological and ontological conditions that characterize current human conditions. Understanding the sociality and materiality of "knowing" and "doing" in technologized society means unpacking what we mean when we talk of 'access' and understanding 'use' as often an activity of re-working. Paper 2 Author: Reis, Christian Robottom & Renata Pontin de Mattos Fortes Title An Overview of the Software Engineering Process and Tools in the Mozilla Project http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/reismozilla.pdf Abstract: The Mozilla Project is an Open Source Software project which is dedicated to development of the Mozilla Web browser and application framework. Possessing one of the largest and most complex communities of developers among Open Source projects, it presents interesting requirements for a software process and the tools to support it. Over the past four years, process and tools have been refined to a point where they are both stable and effective in serving the project’s needs. This paper describes the software engineering aspect of a large Open Source project. It also covers the software engineering tools used in the Mozilla Project, since theMozilla process and tools are intimately related. These tools include Bugzilla, a Web application designed for bug tracking, bug triage, code review and correction; Tinderbox, an automated build and regression testing system; Bonsai, a tool which performs queries to the CVS code repository; and LXR, a hypertext-based source code browser. *********************************************************************** MS Thesis Author: Rothfuss, Gregor J Title A Framework for Open Source Projects http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rotfuss.pdf Abstract: The historical roots of Open Source are outlined. A comparison between Open Source projects and classical projects highlights strengths and weaknesses of both, and defines their attributes. Existing Open Source theories are evaluated, and the requirements for a framework for Open Source projects are determined. The framework introduces the notions of actors, roles, areas, processes and tools, and depicts their interrelationships in a matrix. Each aspect of the framework is then further developed to serve both as a conceptual foundation for Open Source and a help for organizing and managing Open Source projects. *********************************************************************** Updated Paper Author: Hawkins, Richard Title The Economics of Free Software for a Competitive Firm http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/hawkins.pdf Abstract: This paper builds a simple economic model of the profit seeking firm with a choice between producing an open source and proprietary solutions. Differences between public and viral licenses are discussed from the firm's perpective. Advocacy issues are omitted entirely, and the model requires no math beyond subtraction. The decision of a firm to adopt an open source product rather than purchase is also discussed, but is seen as a trivial and uninteresting problem. ************************************************************************* Thanks to all for their submissions!! Karim -- =============================================== Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan School of Management MIT Free/Open Source Software Research Project e-mail: lakhani@mit.edu voice: 617-851-1224 fax: 617-344-0403 http://opensource.mit.edu http://freesoftware.mit.edu http://mit.edu/lakhani/www -- =============================================== Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan School of Management MIT Free/Open Source Software Research Project e-mail: lakhani@mit.edu voice: 617-851-1224 fax: 617-344-0403 http://opensource.mit.edu http://freesoftware.mit.edu http://mit.edu/lakhani/www