Hi All, Please find below new papers on our website. Tx Karim Paper 1 Author: Andres Guadamuz-Gonzalez Title: Viral Contracts or Unenforceable Documents? Contractual Validity of Copyleft Licenses http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/guadamuz.pdf Abstract: This paper asks the question of whether copyleft free software licences constitute valid legal contracts, in particular with regards to the fact that it may create obligations through a distribution chain. There is increasing interest about the non-proprietary licence model expressed in popular documents such as the General Public Licence (GPL), but not enough work has been done in asking perhaps the most important question of all: are these contracts enforceable? Is there really a viral transmission of obligations? To do this the GPL licence will be analysed to try to determine whether or not the terms included are contractually valid. Paper 2 Author Luthiger Stoll, Benno Title: Fun and Software Development https://www.foss.ethz.ch/people/lbenno/BLuthiger_Fun_SoftwareDevel_OSS2005.p... Abstract This study gathered 1330 answers about fun and software development from open source developers as well as 114 answers from programmers working in commercial software projects. The analysis of these data proves that fun plays an important role when software developers decide to get engaged in an open source project. Moreover, the comparison of the answers gives evidence for the hypothesis that programming in an open source project is significantly more fun compared to the same activity under commercial conditions. The reasons for this fact are that open source projects are able to attract software developers with a credible project vision and t Paper 3 Authors Stefano Comino, Fabio M. Manenti, Marialaura Parisi Title: From Planning to Mature: on the Determinants of Open Source Take Off http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/Comino_Manenti_Parisi.pdf ABSTRACT In this paper we use data from SourceForge.net, the largest open source projects repository, to estimate the main determinants of the progress in the development of a stable and mature code of a software. We find that the less restrictive the licensing terms the larger the likelihood of reaching an advanced development status and that this effect is even stronger for newer projects. We also find that projects geared towards system administrators appear to be the more successful ones. The determinants of projects' development stage change with the age of the project in many dimensions, i.e. licensing terms, software audience and contents, thus supporting the common perception of opens source as a very dynamic phenomenon. The data seem to suggest that open source is evolving towards more commercial applications. Paper 4 Author Chance, Tom Title: The Hacker Ethic and Meaningful Work http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/chance.pdf Abstract This paper begins with the following proposition: given that we spend a large proportion of our time working, a just society will provide or encourage meaningful work. Hackers have created and broadened spaces where working life can unfold freely, so a proper analysis of the Hacker Ethic ought to be of concern both to philosophers interested in meaningful work, and to academics researching hackers and the free software community. I proceed by first developing an understanding of the Hacker Ethic that highlights a central concern of my essay, that of orientations that I characterise as self-indulgent and social placing conflicting obligations upon individuals. Using Marx's conception of alienated as a basis, I go on to show how the Hacker Ethic can to an extent overcome these conflicts by developing a more rounded understanding of the ethic. Finally I raise some concerns for the underdeveloped field of the philosophy of hacking and free software that are particularly pertinent to the paper. Paper 5 Author Krzysztof Klincewicz Title: Innovativeness of open source software projects http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/klincewicz.pdf Abstract: The paper addresses an ongoing debate about the innovativeness of open source projects and critically evaluates the innovative potential of 500 most active projects registered by SourceForge.net. The analysis is based on a proposed framework, distinguishing between radical inventions, technology / platform modifications, and marketing innovations. Research findings include relatively low levels of technical newness in the studies sample, alongside high interest of developers and users in the innovative projects. The article discusses the underlying mechanisms, restricting innovativeness of community-driven open source efforts, and postulates the establishment of an institution of “idea brokers”, playing roles corresponding to venture capitalists in the commercial software domain. Paper 6 Author: Yuwei Lin Title: A Techno-Feminist Perspective on the Free/Libre Open Source Software Development http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lin5.pdf Compressed abstract: This paper tries to analyse the FLOSS development from a "techno-feminist" perspective (Wajcman 2004). Staying away from a reductionism that simplifies the gender issue in the FLOSS community to the level of a fight between men and women, the issues I attempt to address include not only the inequality that women face in computing, but also other inequalities that other users face mainly emerging from the power relationships between expert and lay (namely, developer and user) in software design. Instead of splitting women and men in the FLOSS development, this analysis helps motivate both men and women to work together, reduce the gender gap, and improve the disadvantaged statuses of women and a wider users community in the FLOSS development. -- Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224 http://spoudaiospaizen.net http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu My *new* book: http://tinyurl.com/cjxj6