Abstract
Software Ecosystem (SECO) is a new and rapidly evolving phenomenon in the field of software engineering. It is an approach through which many variables can resolve complex relationships among companies in the software industry. SECOs are gaining importance with the advent of the Google Android, Apple iOS, Microsoft and Salesforce.com ecosystems. It is a co-innovation approach by developers, software organisations, and third parties that share common interest in the development of the software technology. There are limited researches that have been done on SECOs hence researchers and practitioners are still eager to elucidate this concept. A systematic study was undertaken to present a review of software ecosystems to address the features, benefits and challenges of SECOs. This paper showed that open source development model and innovative process development were key features of SECOs and the main challenges of SECOs were security, evolution management and infrastructure tools for fostering interaction. Finally SECOs fostered co-innovation, increased attractiveness for new players and decreased costs
Highlights
The notion of ecosystems originates from ecology
This paper explores the main terms under consideration which are the meaning of SECO, identify the main features of Software Ecosystems (SECOs) and establish the benefits and challenges of SECOs
A) How can quality be measured per developer? b) How can relationships be formed between developers? c) How can conflicts be resolved in open source ecosystems? d) How can application program interfaces (APIs) to third-party components be used
Summary
The notion of ecosystems originates from ecology. One definition in Wikipedia defines an ecosystem as a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the nonliving physical (abiotic factors) of the environment. A Software Ecosystem consists of the set of software solutions that enable, support and automate the activities and transactions by the actors in the associated social or business ecosystem and the organizations that provide these solutions [1]. This is an emergent field inspired in concepts from and business and biological ecosystems [14]. Ecosystem concept may refer to a wide range of configurations They all involve two fundamental concepts: a network of organisations or actors, and a common interest in the development and use of a central software technology. This paper explores the main terms under consideration which are the meaning of SECO, identify the main features of Software Ecosystems (SECOs) and establish the benefits and challenges of SECOs
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