Internet Success―A Study of Open-Source Software Commons

The use of open-source software (OSS)--readable software source code that can becopied, modified, and distributed freely--has expanded dramatically in recent years. The number ofOSS projects hosted on SourceForge.net (the largest hosting Web site for OSS), for example, grewfrom just over 100,000 in 2006 to more than 250,000 at the beginning of 2011. But why are someprojects successful--that is, able to produce usable software and sustain ongoing development overtime--while others are abandoned? In this book, the product of the first large-scale empirical studyto look at social, technical, and institutional aspects of OSS, Charles Schweik and Robert Englishexamine factors that lead to success in OSS projects and work toward a better understanding ofInternet-based collaboration. Drawing on literature from many disciplines and using a theoreticalframework developed for the study of environmental commons, Schweik and English examine stages ofOSS development, presenting multivariate statistical models of success and abandonment. Schweik andEnglish argue that analyzing the conditions of OSS successes may also inform Internet collaborationsin fields beyond software engineering, particularly those that aim to solve complex technical,social, and political problems.

Charles M. Schweik is Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is Associate Director of the National Center for Digital Government (NCDG.org). Robert C. English is owner of the consulting firm Daystar Computing and a former Research Associate at the National Center for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.