Open Source Software Innovation Research Articles

Open Source Development and Software Innovation

The rapid emergence of open source software has generated significant debate over its effect on software innovation. The goal of this paper is to explore the impact of open source software innovation on a mixed market also containing proprietary software, and to compare this market with a pure market in which only proprietary software firms exist. Building upon Hotelling's model of horizontal differentiation, open source innovation is characterized as the result of contributions from utility maximizing consumer-programmers. While I find that a mixed market can have more innovation than a pure market, increased open source innovation may decrease overall innovative activity and lead to lower welfare within a mixed market. These results are driven by the finding that innovation in open source software crowds out proprietary software innovation. The innovation and welfare effects of government policies such as subsidies or compulsory usage schemes are also considered.

Open Source Software, Competition and Innovation

The entry and success of open source software (OSS), for example, Linux's entry into the operating systems market, has fundamentally changed industry structures in the software business. In this paper we explore the process of OSS innovation and highlight the impact of increased competition and different cost structures on innovative activity in the industry, which has been neglected in the literature thus far. In a simple model, we formalize the innovation impact of OSS entry by examining a change in market structure from monopoly to duopoly under the assumption that software producers compete in technology rather than price or quantities. The model takes into account development costs and total cost of ownership, whereby the latter captures items such as network externalities. The paper identifies a pro‐innovative effect of both intra‐OSS and extra‐OSS competition.

Community, joining, and specialization in open source software innovation: a case study

This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software (OSS) 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.

Community, Joining, and Specialization in Open Source Software Innovation: A Case Study

This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software innovation process by focusing 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 date 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.