Free software are programs distributed with their source code (the text of the program written in a programming language that is comprehensible for humans) and with the authorization to modify and redistribute them freely, which differentiates them radically from private or “ proprietary” software. Their development is based on the participation of volunteers within a cooperative organization that relies a great deal on the organizational facilities provided by the Internet. This configuration leads to questions on the characteristics of the collective action that enables the transition from individual voluntary commitments that are potentially volatile and unstable to the completion of a collective production that involves continuity and sustainability. The production of free software cannot be considered the contingent result of a spontaneous convergence of individual, independent commitments. It presupposes certain forms of motivation for the participants to work, who are in turn capable of ensuring a certain continuity in their commitments and of coordinating the organization of their contributions. Because even if a software program is a text, it is an “ active” text that works insofar as it is made up of a list of instructions that are automatically executed by a machine, which requires an extremely strong coherency of the different parts of the text (Horn, 2004). Empirical preliminary observations show that developers have a wide range of statuses (students, employees of research centers or private companies engaged in activities related to free software or not at all…) This infers heterogeneous links between the activity of developing free software and salaried work. The former can take place outside of working (salaried) hours, exclusively or not, but it can also take place during working (salaried) hours and thus can be, according to the case, hidden, tolerated, unofficial, official, required, recognized or valued. The development of free software takes place within plural legal and temporal systems. These heterogeneous figures extend well beyond the scope of volunteer work and they indicate also another stake in this productive activity: the cooperation between contributors without which it would be impossible to develop a useable product. Yet, in general, these contributors are not enrolled in the same organization, are dispersed, have computer-mediated relationships via the Internet, and are not linked by the lines of an organization chart (Gensollen, 2004) The absence of direct, codified and prescribed interaction between the producers is counterbalanced by sharing the sense of belonging to a specific group with a strong identity. At least this is how we can interpret the repeated references to “ free communities” on the part of contributors. This indigenous terminology does not reveal its true meaning immediately,