A Historical Account of the Value of Free and Open Source Software: From Software Commune to Commercial Commons

TitleA Historical Account of the Value of Free and Open Source Software: From Software Commune to Commercial Commons
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Publication2011
Secondary TitleOpen Source Systems: Grounding Research (OSS 2011)
Pagination196-207
Date Published10/2011
PublisherSpringer
KeywordsFree and Open Source Software, Historical approach, Justification
Abstract

Free and open source software has transformed from what has been characterized as a resistance movement against proprietary software to become a commercially viable form of software development, integrated in various forms with proprietary software business. In this paper we explain this development as a dependence on historical formations, shaped by different ways of justifying the use of open source during different periods of time. These formations are described as arrangements of different justificatory logics within a certain time frame or a certain group of actors motivating the use of free and open source software by referring to different potentialities. The justificatory arrangements change over time, and tracing these changes makes it easier to understand how the cultural, economic and social practices of open source movements are currently being absorbed and adopted in a commercial context.

Notes

"In order to understand how perceptions of FOSS software have developed over time, we have traced justifying arrangements that historically have been used to define the value of FOSS. This has been done by going through canonical texts and previous research [3]; i.e. we look at research and publications considered to have had a major impact on the perception of FOSS...."

Software Commune, software bazaar, public commons

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