The Business And Economics Of Linux And Open Source

Open Source has become a buzzword synonymous with growth and change in computing. This book examines the Open Source movement, what's worked and why, and explains the technology to the mainstream investor and manager looking to replicate the successes of the Open Source movement.

Much of the innovative programming that powers the Internet, creates operating systems, and produces software is the result of "open source" code, that is, code that is freely distributed--as opposed to being kept secret--by those who write it. Leaving source code open has generated some of the most sophisticated developments in computer technology, including, most notably, Linux and Apache, which pose a significant challenge to Microsoft in the marketplace. As Steven Weber discusses, open source's success in a highly competitive industry has subverted many assumptions about how businesses are run, and how intellectual products are created and protected. Traditionally, intellectual property law has allowed companies to control knowledge and has guarded the rights of the innovator, at the expense of industry-wide cooperation. In turn, engineers of new software code are richly rewarded; but, as Weber shows, in spite of the conventional wisdom that innovation is driven by the promise of individual and corporate wealth, ensuring the free distribution of code among computer programmers can empower a more effective process for building intellectual products. In the case of Open Source, independent programmers--sometimes hundreds or thousands of them--make unpaid contributions to software that develops organically, through trial and error. Weber argues that the success of open source is not a freakish exception to economic principles. The open source community is guided by standards, rules, decisionmaking procedures, and sanctioning mechanisms. Weber explains the political and economic dynamics of this mysterious but important market development. Table of Contents: Preface 1. Property and the Problem of Software 2. The Early History of Open Source 3. What Is Open Source and How Does It Work? 4. A Maturing Model of Production 5. Explaining Open Source: Microfoundations 6. Explaining Open Source: Macro-Organization 7. Business Models and the Law 8. The Code That Changed the World? Notes Index Reviews of this book: In the world of open-source software, true believers can be a fervent bunch. Linux, for example, may act as a credo as well as an operating system. But there is much substance beyond zealotry, says Steven Weber, the author of The Success of Open Source...An open-source operating system offers its source code up to be played with, extended, debugged, and otherwise tweaked in an orgy of user collaboration. The author traces the roots of that ethos and process in the early years of computers...He also analyzes the interface between open source and the worlds of business and law, as well as wider issues in the clash between hierarchical structures and networks, a subject with relevance beyond the software industry to the war on terrorism. --Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education Reviews of this book: A valuable new account of the [open-source software] movement. --Edward Rothstein, New York Times We can blindly continue to develop, reward, protect, and organize around knowledge assets on the comfortable assumption that their traditional property rights remain inviolate. Or we can listen to Steven Weber and begin to make our peace with the uncomfortable fact that the very foundations of our familiar "knowledge as property" world have irrevocably shifted. --Alan Kantrow, Chief Knowledge Officer, Monitor Group Ever since the invention of agriculture, human beings have had only three social-engineering tools for organizing any large-scale division of labor: markets (and the carrots of material benefits they offer), hierarchies (and the sticks of punishment they impose), and charisma (and the promises of rapture they offer). Now there is the possibility of a fourth mode of effective social organization--one that we perhaps see in embryo in the creation and maintenance of open-source software. My Berkeley colleague Steven Weber's book is a brilliant exploration of this fascinating topic. --J. Bradford DeLong, Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley Steven Weber has produced a significant, insightful book that is both smart and important. The most impressive achievement of this volume is that Weber has spent the time to learn and think about the technological, sociological, business, and legal perspectives related to open source. The Success of Open Source is timely and more thought provoking than almost anything I've come across in the past several years. It deserves careful reading by a wide audience. --Jonathan Aronson, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California

This handbook of research is one of the few texts to combine Open Source Software (OSS) in public and private sector activities into a single reference source. It examines how the use of OSS affects practices in society, business, government, education, and law.

"IT organizatons are increasingly investigating the use of open source software for its cost-effectiveness and flexibility. However, myths about open source software persist - for example, that it runs only on Linux or that it is not stable enough for demanding production environments. Dispelling those myths, leading companies such as Amazon.com and Google rely on open source software, and many more companies will make the switch in the years ahead." "Succeeding with Open Source is the first book written specifically for IT managers who need to evaluate, select, and use open source software. The author begins with the fundamentals of open source solutions and how they differ greatly from commercial software. He then introduces the Open Source Maturity Model (OSMM), an invaluable resource for assessing open source products for their production readiness."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"Open source" began as the mantra of a small group of idealistic hackers and has blossomed into the all-important slogan for progressive business and computing. This fast-moving narrative starts at ground zero, with the dramatic incubation of open-source software by Linux and its enigmatic creator, Linus Torvalds. With firsthand accounts, it describes how a motley group of programmers managed to shake up the computing universe and cause a radical shift in thinking for the post-Microsoft era. A powerful and engaging tale of innovation versus big business, Rebel Code chronicles the race to create and perfect open-source software, and provides the ideal perch from which to explore the changes that cyberculture has engendered in our society. Based on over fifty interviews with open-source protagonists such as Torvalds and open source guru Richard Stallman, Rebel Code captures the voice and the drama behind one of the most significant business trends in recent memory.

Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Scientific Research Costs details the development of the free and open-source hardware revolution. The combination of open-source 3D printing and microcontrollers running on free software enables scientists, engineers, and lab personnel in every discipline to develop powerful research tools at unprecedented low costs. After reading Open-Source Lab, you will be able to: Lower equipment costs by making your own hardware Build open-source hardware for scientific research Actively participate in a community in which scientific results are more easily replicated and cited Numerous examples of technologies and the open-source user and developer communities that support them Instructions on how to take advantage of digital design sharing Explanations of Arduinos and RepRaps for scientific use A detailed guide to open-source hardware licenses and basic principles of intellectual property

In 2004/5, over half of IT professionals will be looking at open source, most for the first time. This book provides key tools for System administrators, Network Administrators, IT project managers, and consultants who must evaluate and deploy open source software. This book details open source successes so far, explains which scenarios are the most realistic opportunities now, then gives the details needed to select these solutions, adopt the best tools and practices, introduce them to an organization, implement and manage them. The IT professional can use this book to review opportunities in their organization, evaluate components such as Apache, Linux, and OpenOffice against systems they know, and follow up in detail on their specific interests here and through referred resources. *Deployment scenarios categorized by function and industry *Rules of thumb on where and when open source software is or is not the right choice *Roadmaps for deployment in terms of the components of open source

The advancementof the softwareindustry has hada substantialimpact notonly onproductivityandonGDPgrowthglobally,butalsoonourdailyworkandlife. Software business refers to commercial activity of the software industry, aimed at generating income from delivery of software products and software services. Although software business shares common features with other international knowledge-intensive businesses, it carries many inherent features making it an intriguing and challenging domain for research. Until now, however, software business has received little attention from the academic community. The First International Conference on Software Business (ICSOB 2010) was organized in Jyv ̈ askyl ̈ a during June 21–23, 2010. This inaugural conference brought together a strong Program Committee of 52 members with research disciplines from various ?elds of business management and technology mana- mentaswellasinternational?avorwithmemberscomingfrom17countriesfrom South and North America to Europe, India and Australia. Wereceived35researchpapersubmissions.Thepaperswentthroughadoub- blind review process producing at least three reviews for each accepted paper. The ProgramCommittee accepted 13 submissions to be presented as full papers in the conference, equaling 37% of the submissions. In addition, ten papers were accepted as short papers. The accepted papers represent the wide variety of - searchactivityonsoftwarebusiness.Forthepurposesoftheconferenceprogram, the papers were organized under eight themes: business models, business m- agement, ecosystems, education and research, internationalization, open source software and social media, product management, and software as a service. In addition to the paper sessions, the conference program included three keynote presentations and a Business Innovation Track containing best-practice presentations from the software industry. The conference program also included two workshops, three tutorials and an adjunct meeting of the Cloud Software Consortia.