Understanding Open Source Software Development

Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald

212 pages, parution le 05/02/2002

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Résumé

Propelled by headline products such as Linux and Apache, the development and manufacture of Open Source Software (OSS) has become a multi-billion dollar industry in recent years. Unsurprisingly, much has been written about this phenomenon, but the central issues involved are too often obscured by myth, misunderstanding, and partisan opinion. In Understanding Open Source Software Development, Joseph Feller and Brian Fitzgerald have assembled the first complete and objective synthesis of the available literature, offering a unique one-stop reference for developers, researchers, managers and anyone else needing to grasp the key issues about OSS.

The book addresses the fundamental questions of "what, why, when, where and how" the Open Source process has been able to produce category-killing software without the support of a traditional software engineering environment and without the support of a traditional software company's marketing machine. In doing so, the authors provide:

An understanding of the Open Source Definition and the major Open Source Licences;
A context for OSS in the history of software development;
An analytical framework for describing and understanding the OSS phenomenon;
A roadmap of the key organizations and projects involved in OSS;
An exploration of what motivates the adoption of OSS products, processes and business models;
A critical discussion of the strengths, weaknesses and paradoxes of OSS development.

Understanding Open Source Software Development is complemented by the Open Source Resources portal at http://opensource.ucc.ie, featuring regularly maintailinks to OSS companies, organizations, projects, publications, news , opinion, research and events.

Contents

Introduction.

Why we wrote this book.
Who should read this book?
How this book is organized.
Visit us online.
Acknowledgments.
1. Overview of Open Source Software.

What is software source code?
The Open Source Definition.
Examples of OSD-compliant licenses.
Examples of Open Source Software products.
The Open Source Software Development process.
Conclusion.

2. A history of Open Source Software.

The early days.
The Berkeley Software Distribution.
TeX.
The Free Software Foundation.
Linux.
Apache.
Mozilla.
Open Source Software.
Conclusion and further reading.

3. The landscape of Open Source Software.

Advocacy groups q FSF and OSI.
Project coordinators and hosts.
OSS companies.
Related organizations.
Conclusion.

4. Deriving a framework for analyzing OSS.

Zachmanms framework for IS architecture.
CATWOE and Soft Systems Method.
Deriving an analytical framework for OSS.
Conclusion.

5. Qualification: what defines a software _system as Open Source?

Defining Open Source Software.
Categorizing Open Source Software.
Specific characteristics of Open Source Software.
Conclusion.

6. Transformation: how is the Open Source _process organized and managed?

The OSS development process.
Taboos and norms in OSS development.
The OSS development life cycle.
Conclusion.

7. Stakeholders: who are the developers and organizations involved?

OSS stakeholders.
OSS developer communities.
OSS user communities.
OSS commercial organizations.
OSS non-commercial organizations.
Conclusion.

8. Environment: where and when does Open _Source development take place?

The “where?” OSS.
The “when?” of OSS.
Conclusion.

9. World-view: what are the motivations _behind Open Source development?

A framework for classifying OSS motivations.
Technological micro-level (individual) motivation.
Technological macro-level (organization/community) _ motivation.
Economic micro-level (individual) motivation.
Economic macro-level (organization/community) _ motivation.
Socio-political micro-level (individual) motivation.
Socio-political macro-level (organization/community) motivation.

10. Critical questions and future research.

Preparing for the future.
Qualification revisited.
Cathedrals in the bazaar.
Collectivist vs. individual focus.
OSS vs. OSI vs. FSF.
Is OSS a paradigm shift in software engineering?
OSS and black boxes q The Berkeley Conundrum.
One size fits all q is OSS the future of software?
Is OSS the future of work?
Conclusion.

Reference.
Index.

L'auteur - Joseph Feller

Joseph Feller is a Lecturer with the Business Information Systems Group, University College Cork, Ireland. His research on Open Source Software is published in several prominent conference proceedings and he is the author of Customer Friendly: Design Guidelines for eCommerce. He also edits the monthly professional journal, Inside XML Solutions.

L'auteur - Brian Fitzgerald

Brian Fitzgerald is Senior Researcher with the Executive Systems Research Centre, University College Cork. He is an Associate Editor for the Information Systems Journal and Data Base, and author or co-author of four books and more than 50 papers. He has presented research at a number of international conferences, and, prior to entering academia, spent more than fifteen years in industry.

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Addison Wesley
Auteur(s)	Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald
Parution	05/02/2002
Nb. de pages	212
Format	18,6 x 23,4
Couverture	Broché
Poids	409g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780201734966
ISBN13	978-0-201-73496-6