Closed Source Software Development Research Articles

When less is more: coordinating innovation in open versus closed source software development

This paper compares the coordination effort required for innovative work in a typical firm and in an open source software development project. It concludes that the open mode of organising requires a lower amount of coordination compared to the closed mode typical of firms. The reasons for this finding are a reduced need for subsystem differentiation, task variability and interdependence in open source software development. The open mode is therefore interesting for entrepreneurial ventures striving to overcome limited resources. It has two advantages: it creates fewer costs and is better suited to generating innovative output compared to the closed model used in firms. This conceptual paper builds on the literature on open organisations, the open source software phenomenon and contingency theory. It illustrates its theoretical findings with two cases (Microsoft and the Arch Linux open source project).

When less is more: coordinating innovation in open versus closed source software development

This paper compares the coordination effort required for innovative work in a typical firm and in an open source software development project. It concludes that the open mode of organising requires a lower amount of coordination compared to the closed mode typical of firms. The reasons for this finding are a reduced need for subsystem differentiation, task variability and interdependence in open source software development. The open mode is therefore interesting for entrepreneurial ventures striving to overcome limited resources. It has two advantages: it creates fewer costs and is better suited to generating innovative output compared to the closed model used in firms. This conceptual paper builds on the literature on open organisations, the open source software phenomenon and contingency theory. It illustrates its theoretical findings with two cases (Microsoft and the Arch Linux open source project).

The Impact of Process Effectiveness on User Interest in Contributing to the Open Source Software Projects

Unlike closed source software development, open source software (OSS) projects are not commonly driven by direct profit and do not offer developers monetary incentives. Instead, OSS development relies on volunteer developers and voluntary contributions from the user community. Thus, attracting voluntary user contributions to OSS projects is a challenging task. Defect fixing is one important area of OSS development that requires user contributions. Postulating upon the theory of competency rallying, this research examines the impact of the defect- fixing effectiveness on user interest in contributing to OSS projects. Analysis of data collected from 1481 OSS projects confirms that the effectiveness of the defect fixing process till any period of time has a positive significant effect on the user contribution in terms of defect submission as well as defect resolution in the following time period. The results of this study have several implications for OSS projects' managers as well as corporations interested in adopting OSS software.

Exploratory Analysis of Quality Practices in Open Source Domain

Software quality assurance has been a heated topic for several decades, but relatively few analyses were performed on open source software (OSS). As OSS has become very popular in our daily life, many researchers have been keen on the quality practices in this area. Although quality management presents distinct patterns compared with those in closed-source software development, some widely used OSS products have been implemented. Therefore, quality assurance of OSS projects has attracted increased research focuses.In this paper, a survey is conducted to reveal the general quality practices in open source communities. Exploratory analysis has been carried out to disclose those quality related activities. The results are compared with those from closed-source environments and the distinguished features of the quality assurance in OSS projects have been confirmed. Moreover, this study suggests potential directions for OSS developers to follow.

Achieving Quality in Open-Source Software

The open source software community has published a substantial body of research on OSS quality. Focusing on this peer-reviewed body of work lets us draw conclusions from empirical data rather than rely on the large volume of evangelical opinion that has historically dominated this field. This body of published research has become much more critical and objective in its efforts to understand OSS development, and a consensus has emerged on the key components of high-quality OSS delivery. This article reviews this body of research and draws out lessons learned, investigating how the approaches used to deliver high-quality OSS differ from, and can be incorporated into, closed-source software development