%0 Journal Article %J International Journal of Open Source Software and Processes %D 2010 %T An Analysis of the Adoption of Open Source Software by Local Public Administrations %A Rentocchini, Francesco %A Tartari, Dimitri %K government %X The wide diffusion of open source software (OSS) is driving discussion among scholars on a set of issues, including its adoption by public administrations (PA). Previous works discussed a few factors that drive the decision to adopt OSS and did not address the potential benefits in terms of e-government that OSS may bring to PA. This paper fills these gaps. The analysis is based on the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and studies the adoption of software (both proprietary and open source) by local PA. The results show there is increased adoption of OSS in several different domains of application, both servers and desktop clients. Among the motivations to adopt OSS, dependence on software suppliers is important. Its adoption also positively affects the variety and extent of interactivity of local public e-services. %B International Journal of Open Source Software and Processes %V 2 %P 1 - 29 %N 3 %R 10.4018/jossp.2010070101 %0 Conference Paper %B OSS2006: Open Source Systems (IFIP 2.13) %D 2006 %T Software Patents and Open Source Software in the European Union: Evidences of a Trade-Off? %A Rentocchini, Francesco %A De Prato, Giuditta %X The present work aims at giving an account of the patenting behaviour in the software sector, focusing on the European Union and pointing out issues regarding a trade-off which would support a policy attitude in favour of a wider diffusion of the Open Source model. %B OSS2006: Open Source Systems (IFIP 2.13) %S IFIP International Federation for Information Processing %I Springer %V 203/2006 %P 349 - 351 %8 2006/// %G eng %R http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/0-387-34226-5_41 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Software%20Patents%20and%20Open%20Source%20Software.pdf %0 Conference Paper %B OSS2005: Open Source Systems %D 2005 %T Future Development in the European Software Industry: Patentability of Computer Programs or Open Source Software? %A Rentocchini, Francesco %K european %K market segment %K open source %K os %K patent %K patent literature %K patentability %K software industry %K software sector %X Economic literature has treated the patent system as an indispensable tool to incentive inventive activity and to foster diffusion of technological improvements, but recent developments have brought at the center of the stage the Open Source phenomenon which is based on completely different mechanisms among which the free disclosure of the inventive steps. This work analyzes changes that are taking place into patent literature in order to give account of the desirability of patents in software sector. In addition some ideas on empirical analysis are put forward: the possibility of measuring the relationship between patents and input of innovation process in the software sector and the influence that private firms will have on Open Source developers motivations. %B OSS2005: Open Source Systems %P 311-313 %U http://hdl.handle.net/2038/966