Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software edited by Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam, and Karim R. Lakhani The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Stone sans and Stone serif by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perspectives on free and open source software / edited by Joseph Feller . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-262-06246-1 (alk. paper) 1. Shareware (Computer software) 2. Open source software. 3. Computer software—Development. I. Feller, Joseph, 1972– QA76.76.S46P47 2005 005.36—dc22 2004064954 10987654321 My love, thanks and humble apologies go to my very patient and supportive family: Carol, Caelen, Damien, and Dylan. JF Arís as Gaeilge: Buíochas mór le mo chlann, Máire, Pól agus Eimear. Is mór agam an iarracht a rinne sibh ar mo shon. BF With heartfelt warmth, I dedicate this book to my wife, Jacqueline, and my two sons, Derek and Zachery, who bring meaning to everything I do. SAH To Shaheen, Doulat, and Sitarah, your love makes it all possible. A special note of thanks to Eric von Hippel for being a great mentor and a true chum. KRL Contents Foreword by Michael Cusumano xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii by Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott Hissam, and Karim R. Lakhani I Motivation in Free/Open Source Software Development 1 1 Why Hackers Do What They Do: Understanding Motivation and Effort in Free/Open Source Software Projects 3 Karim R. Lakhani and Robert G. Wolf 2 Understanding Free Software Developers: Findings from the FLOSS Study 23 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh 3 Economic Perspectives on Open Source 47 Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole II The Evaluation of Free/Open Source Software Development 79 4 Standing in Front of the Open Source Steamroller 81 Robert L. Glass 5 Has Open Source Software a Future? 93 Brian Fitzgerald 6 Open Source Software Development: Future or Fad? 107 Srdjan Rusovan, Mark Lawford, and David Lorge Parnas 7 Attaining Robust Open Source Software 123 Peter G. Neumann viii Contents 8 Open and Closed Systems Are Equivalent (That Is, in an Ideal World) 127 Ross Anderson 9 Making Lightning Strike Twice 143 Charles B. Weinstock and Scott A. Hissam III Free/Open Source Processes and Tools 161 10 Two Case Studies of Open Source Software Development: Apache and Mozilla 163 Audris Mockus, Roy T. Fielding, and James D. Herbsleb 11 Software Engineering Practices in the GNOME Project 211 Daniel M. German 12 Incremental and Decentralized Integration in FreeBSD 227 Niels Jørgensen 13 Adopting Open Source Software Engineering (OSSE) Practices by Adopting OSSE Tools 245 Jason Robbins IV Free/Open Source Software Economic and Business Models 265 14 Open Source Software Projects as “User Innovation Networks” 267 Eric von Hippel 15 An Analysis of Open Source Business Models 279 Sandeep Krishnamurthy 16 The Allocation of Software Development Resources in Open Source Production Mode 297 Jean-Michel Dalle and Paul A. David 17 Shared Source: The Microsoft Perspective 329 Jason Matusow V Law, Community, and Society 347 18 Open Code and Open Societies 3 49 Lawrence Lessig 19 Legal Aspects of Free and Open Source Software 361 David McGowan Contents ix 20 Nonprofit Foundations and Their Role in Community-Firm Software Collaboration 393 Siobhan O’Mahony 21 Free Science 415 Christopher Kelty 22 High Noon at OS Corral: Duels and Shoot-Outs in Open Source Discourse 431 Anna Maria Szczepanska, Magnus Bergquist, and Jan Ljungberg 23 Libre Software Policies at the European Level 447 Phillipe Aigrain 24 The Open Source Paradigm Shift 461 Tim O’Reilly Epilogue: Open Source outside the Domain of Software 483 Clay Shirky References 489 List of Contributors 513 Index 525 Foreword As with other researchers and authors who study the software business and software engineering, I have had many opportunities to learn about free and open source software (FOSS). There is a lot to know, and I am especially pleased to see this volume of essays from MIT Press because it provides so much information—both quantitative and qualitative— on so many aspects of the open source movement. It will answer many questions as well as continue to inspire more research for years to come. The research in this book is authoritative and thoughtful and offers something for everyone. For example, economists will want to know the motivations of people and companies (such as IBM or Hewlett Packard), who give freely of their time to create or improve a “public good.” Not sur- prisingly, the research indicates that many FOSS developers are motivated both by the creative challenge as well as self-interest, such as enhancing their reputations as programmers, and then take advantage of this effect when searching for jobs. Because both for-profit and nonprofit organiza- tions pay many programmers to work on open source projects, we find there is also some overlap between the free and open source and com- mercial software worlds. Management specialists will want to know if there are business models that enable for-profit firms to take advantage of free or open source soft- ware. We learn that there are several seemingly viable commercial oppor- tunities, even though open source, in many ways, is the ultimate commoditization of at least some parts of the software products business. The major business opportunities seem to be the hybrid approaches that make money from selling services (such as for system installation and inte- gration, and technical support) and distributing convenient packages that include both free and open source software as well as some commercial utilities or applications. This is the strategy that Red Hat, the poster child xii Foreword of commercial OSS companies, has followed, and it is finally making money as a distributor and by servicing Linux users. Social scientists are fascinated by the coordination mechanisms used in open source projects and will learn a lot about how the process works. Computer scientists and software engineers, as well as IT managers, will want to know if open source development methods produce better soft- ware than proprietary methods produce. Most of the evidence in this book suggests that the open source methods and tools resemble what we see in the commercial sector and do not themselves result in higher quality. There is good, bad, and average code in all software products. Not all open source programmers write neat, elegant interfaces and modules, and then care- fully test as well as document their code. Moreover, how many “eyeballs” actually view an average piece of open source code? Not as many as Eric Raymond would have us believe! After reading the diverse chapters in this book, I remain fascinated but still skeptical about how important open source actually will be in the long run and whether, as a movement, it is raising unwarranted excitement among users as well as entrepreneurs and investors. On the development side, I can sympathize with the frustration of programmers such as Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, or Eric Raymond in not being able to improve commercial software and thus determining to write better code that is free and available. Eric Raymond has famously described the open source style of development as similar to a “bazaar,” in contrast to top-down, hierar- chical design philosophies similar to how the Europeans built cathedrals in the middle ages. We also know from the history of the mainframe industry, UNIX, and government-sponsored projects that much software has been a free “public good” since the 1950s and that open source-like collaboration has led to many innovations and improvements in software products. But, on the business side, most companies operate to make money and need some guarantee that they can make a return on investment by protecting their intellectual property. To suggest that all software should be free and freely available makes no sense. On the other hand, most software requires an iterative style of development, and at least some software is well suited to being written by programmers for other programmers in an open source mode. Increasing numbers of the rest of us can take advantage of this public good when “programmer products” like Linux, Apache, and Send Mail become more widely used or easier to use. The conclusion I reach from reading this book is that the software world is diverse as well as fascinating in its contrasts. Most likely, software users Foreword xiii will continue to see a comingling of free, open source, and proprietary soft- ware products for as far as the eye can see. Open source will force some software products companies to drop their prices or drop out of commer- cial viability, but other products and companies will appear. The business of selling software products will live on, along with free and open source programs. This is most likely how it will be, and it is how it should be. Michael Cusumano Groton and Cambridge, Massachusetts February 2005 Acknowledgments We would like to express our sincere thanks to Bob Prior and to the whole editorial staff at The MIT Press, for their professionalism and support throughout the process.