Community and Commercial Strategies in Open Source Software / Gemeinschafts- und kommerzielle Strategien in der Open-Source-Softwarewelt

Anthony I. Wasserman

doi:10.1515/itit.2013.1003

Open Access Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg October 25, 2013

Community and Commercial Strategies in Open Source Software / Gemeinschafts- und kommerzielle Strategien in der Open-Source-Softwarewelt

Anthony I. Wasserman
Anthony I. (Tony) Wasserman is Professor of Software Management Practice at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley, and Exec. Director of its Center for Open Source Investigation (COSI). Previously, he was Founder and CEO of Interactive Development Environments (IDE), and a Professor at the University of California San Francisco. Tony is a Fellow of the ACM, a Life Fellow of the IEEE, and a Director of the Open Source Initiative.
Address: Carnegie Mellon University – Silicon Valley, Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA, e-mail: tonyw@sv.cmu.edu

From the journal it - Information Technology

https://doi.org/10.1515/itit.2013.1003

Summary

This paper describes the recent evolution of business strategies used by companies offering products and services based on free and open source software (FOSS). The primary focus is on companies that develop and release products under an open source license. The paper compares their practices with traditional proprietary software companies and with community-based open source projects, and identifies growing overlaps between the different kinds of software companies. Finally, the paper describes the likely impact of recent technology developments in mobile and cloud computing on open source software and related business.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Artikel beschreibt die Evolution von Geschäftsstrategien, welche Unternehmen verfolgen, die Softwareprodukte und -Dienstleistungen auf Basis von Open-Source-Software anbieten. Der Fokus liegt auf Unternehmen, welche Softwareprodukte unter einer Open-Source-Lizenz anbieten. Der Artikel vergleicht die Unternehmenspraktiken auf der einen Seite mit denen traditioneller proprietärer Softwarehersteller und auf der anderen Seite mit denen von gemeinschaftlich entwickelten Open- Source-Projekten. Der Artikel stellt eine wachsende Überschneidung zwischen den verschiedenen Unternehmensarten fest. Abschliessend beschreibt der Artikel den erwarten Einfluss aktueller Technologieentwicklungen wie Mobiles- und Cloud-Computing auf Open-Source-Software und verwandte Geschäftsfelder.

Keywords : ACM CSS ; Software and its engineering ; Software creation and management ; Collaboration in software development ; Open source model; software business; open source software; FOSS; FLOSS

Schlagwörter : Kommerzieller Open Source; Open-Source-Geschäftsmodelle; mobiles Computing; Cloud-Computing

About the author

Anthony I. Wasserman

Anthony I. (Tony) Wasserman is Professor of Software Management Practice at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley, and Exec. Director of its Center for Open Source Investigation (COSI). Previously, he was Founder and CEO of Interactive Development Environments (IDE), and a Professor at the University of California San Francisco. Tony is a Fellow of the ACM, a Life Fellow of the IEEE, and a Director of the Open Source Initiative.

Address: Carnegie Mellon University – Silicon Valley, Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA, e-mail: tonyw@sv.cmu.edu

Published Online: 2013-10-25

Published in Print: 2013-10

This content is open access.

Community and Commercial Strategies in Open Source Software / Gemeinschafts- und kommerzielle Strategien in der Open-Source-Softwarewelt

Summary

Zusammenfassung

About the author

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