Much of the innovative programming that powers the Internet,
creates operating systems, and produces software is the result of
"open source" code, that is, code that is freely distributed--as
opposed to being kept secret--by those who write it. Leaving source
code open has generated some of the most sophisticated developments
in computer technology, including, most notably, Linux and Apache,
which pose a significant challenge to Microsoft in the marketplace.
As Steven Weber discusses, open source's success in a highly
competitive industry has subverted many assumptions about how
businesses are run, and how intellectual products are created and
protected.
Traditionally, intellectual property law has allowed companies
to control knowledge and has guarded the rights of the innovator,
at the expense of industry-wide cooperation. In turn, engineers of
new software code are richly rewarded; but, as Weber shows, in
spite of the conventional wisdom that innovation is driven by the
promise of individual and corporate wealth, ensuring the free
distribution of code among computer programmers can empower a more
effective process for building intellectual products. In the case
of Open Source, independent programmers--sometimes hundreds or
thousands of them--make unpaid contributions to software that
develops organically, through trial and error.
Weber argues that the success of open source is not a freakish
exception to economic principles. The open source community is
guided by standards, rules, decisionmaking procedures, and
sanctioning mechanisms. Weber explains the political and economic
dynamics of this mysterious but important market development.
General
Imprint: |
Harvard University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2005 |
First published: |
October 2005 |
Authors: |
Steven Weber
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 20mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
312 |
Edition: |
New Ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-01858-7 |
Categories: |
Books >
Computing & IT >
Computer programming >
General
|
LSN: |
0-674-01858-3 |
Barcode: |
9780674018587 |
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