This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software innovation process by focussing on the creation of Freenet, a project aimed at developing a decentralized and anonymous peer-to-peer electronic file sharing network. We are particularly interested in the strategies and processes by which new people join the existing community of software developers, and how they initially contribute code. Analyzing data from multiple sources on the Freenet software development process, we generate the constructs of "joining script",

Prior characterizations of open source projects have been based on the model of a community-founded project. More recently, a second model has emerged, where organizations spinout internally developed code to a public forum. Based on field work on open source projects, we compare the lifecycle differences between these two models. We identify problems unique to spinout projects, particularly in attracting and building an external community. We illustrate these issues with a feasibility analysis of a proposed open source project based on VistA, the primary healthcare information system of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This example illuminates the complexities of building a community after a code base has been developed and suggests that open source software can be used to transfer technology to the private sector. 1.

The open source software development community has long been critical of mainstream software engineering thinking: mainstream software engineering has largely ignored or even scoffed at this critique. A summary of some key elements of such a critique can be useful in at least two ways: as part of an attempt to understand the existing relationship between SE and OSS, and as a tool for improving practice in both areas. 1 OSS Development Is Just SE... Right? It is the perception of many members of the Software Engineering (SE) community that academic SE practice is the standard by which software development should be judged. In this view, high-quality scientific research on SE processes and tools drives high-quality software development practices that produce high-quality, low-cost software in almost any domain. It is interesting to note that many experienced and capable software developers in commercial enterprises scoff at the notion of best SE practice as normative. This view is even more emphatic in the free and open source software (OSS) community. Reactions in response to the perceived mismatch between “real world ” commercial and OSS development and SE “best practice ” have run a gamut, from the development of customized and lightweight software development methodologies such as Extreme Programming [1] to the simple business-as-usual plan of ignoring the SE community altogether. Vixie [14] captures this attitude well, noting that “It is clear from historical examples that software need not be engineered to be widely used and enjoyed.” In fact, the ignorance of SE prescribed practice in the OSS community appears to be almost total and some-

An important and intriguing aspect of e-entrepreneurship is the formation of new ventures in the domain of open source software (OSS). Previous research on these ventures has primarily looked at the design of business models, yet has neglected other key questions relating to the management of these firms, despite clear indications that some existing insights on venture management cannot be applied to new ventures in OSS. The purpose of this paper is to explore how three key challenges of venture management -- the liabilities of newness and smallness of start-ups and market entry barriers -- affect new ventures in OSS. Based on empirical data from personal interviews and a large scale survey we find that many of the liabilities that are typically discussed in the entrepreneurship literature are much less of a challenge for new ventures in OSS. Our findings have interesting implications for the emerging theory on e-entrepreneurship, and for entrepreneurs considering to exploit business opportunities in OSS, and more generally business opportunities based on open innovations.

The free and open source software (F/OSS) computing movements have argued that F/OSS projects lead to better software, freedom from vendor control, and social benefits by sharing software and its associated source code. While these movement grew out of the interests of programmers to write better software for their own purposes, the open source movement has focused on gaining widespread adoption of F/OSS by businesses and other organizations. This requires acceptance by IT organizations and professionals, whose views of F/OSS have been largely ignored in prior research. We interviewed twenty one IT professionals in fourteen business and public sector organizations to uncover their views on F/OSS and the extent of adoption by their organizations. We find that most users do not value access to source code, and very few have ever modified source code even when they use open source software. Users are much more interested in the low cost of F/OSS, which the movement downplays, and there is no consensus about the relative quality of open source versus closed source software. The main point of agreement is on the importance of control and choice, and the freedom from vendor lockin, that comes with F/OSS. Finally, we find that users are generally agnostic about the ideologies of the F/OSS movement, but that in some cases movement advocates act to encourage adoption within their organizations.

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Motivation. Software maintenance is a significant part of the software life-cycle cost. Current research focuses on the maintenance of application software. Despite increased focus on systems integration, there is limited research on maintaining integrated systems. Before progressing with informing software integration practice, researchers therefore need to better understand the actual work of maintaining integrated systems. Research. To this end, a study of maintaining an integrated system in practice has been conducted. The study is conducted in the context of a community of volunteer software integrators. The research combines field studies with document analysis, asking: RQ1: How is knowledge of software failures developed during geographically distributed software maintenance? RQ2: How do software developers build knowledge of how to replace a businesscritical software system? RQ3: What are the characteristics of large-scale software maintenance work in a geographically distributed community of volunteers? Contributions. The main empirical contribution offered by this thesis is insight into the social

This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software (OSS) innovation process by focussing on the creation of Freenet, a project aimed at developing a decentralized and anonymous peer-to-peer electronic file sharing network. We are particularly interested in the strategies and processes by which new people join the existing community of software developers, and how they initially contribute code. Analyzing data from multiple sources on the Freenet software development process, we generate the constructs of “joining script”, “specialization”, “contribution barriers”, and “feature gifts”, and propose relationships among these. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

New ventures based on open innovation – an empirical analysis of start-up firms in embedded Linux

This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software innovation process by focussing on the creation of Freenet, a project aimed at developing a decentralized and anonymous peer-to-peer electronic file sharing network. We are particularly interested in the strategies and processes by which new people join the existing community of software developers, and how they initially contribute code. Analyzing data from multiple sources on the Freenet software development process, we generate the constructs of "joining script", We are grateful to helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers. We also thank Chris Argyris, John Seely