Open Source Software: Free Provision of Complex Public Goods
نویسندگان
چکیده
Open source software, developed by volunteers, appears counter to the conventional wisdom that without ownership rights or government intervention, public goods will not be efficiently provided. But complexity makes a difference: contracts are incomplete and ownership rights do not necessarily elicit socially optimal effort. I consider three mechanisms that improve the provision of complex software: pre-packaging, Application Program Interfaces and Free/Open Source software (FOSS). FOSS extends the range of products available to consumers, complementing, rather than replacing, proprietary provision. Pre-packaged software addresses common uses with limited feature sets, while firms with specialized, more complex needs use FOSS. JEL codes: H41, L22, L86
منابع مشابه
Open Source Software Communities and Industrial Districts: a Useful Comparison?
The phenomenon of open-source software development has already stimulated a wide debate within different academic communities (economists, information scientists, business strategists, operational researchers, etc.) and research approaches. Aim of this paper is to add a new and complementary perspective on the existing economic analysis of open-source software by comparing the structure and evo...
متن کاملThe Provision of a Public Good with a direct Provision Technology and Large Number of Agents
This paper provides a limit result for the provision of a public good in a mechanism design framework as the number of agents gets large. A canonical example for a public good that is produced with a direct provision technology is Open Source Software. 1 Motivation Limit theorems for the provision of goods under asymmetric information about individual valuations with many agents yield strongly ...
متن کاملPublic Goods Theory of the Open Source Development Community Using Agent-based Simulation
Creation of open source software (OSS) can be considered a collective action by individuals with the mutual self-interest of creating and maintaining a public good. We explain the OSS development process in terms of public goods theory including the notions of connectivity and communality for interactive communication systems; we add an additional feature which is the characteristics of the env...
متن کاملGuidelines for the Procurement of Free and Open Source Software in Public Administrations*
This paper provides a concise guide on Free and Open Source Software procurement for European Public Administrations to be used by elected representatives and decision makers, procurement and Information Technology managers and staff in addition to any existing national or European Union guidelines and regulations. This work provides definitions of basic terms, outlines the legal context and th...
متن کاملBug-fixing and code-writing: The private provision of open source software
Open source software (OSS) is a public good. A self-interested individual would consider providing such software, if the benefits he gained from having it justified the cost of programming. Nevertheless each agent is tempted to free ride and wait for others to develop the software instead. This problem is modelled as a war of attrition with complete information, job signaling, repeated contribu...
متن کامل