Open Source Projects as Incubators of Innovation: From Niche Phenomenon to Integral Part of the Software Industry

J. Schrape
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引用次数: 5

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. I begin with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relationships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of four ideal-typical variants of current open source projects that differ significantly in their modes of coordination and the degree of corporate involvement. Further, I examine why open source projects have mainly lost their subversive potential while, in contrast to former cases of collective invention, remaining viable beyond the emergence of predominant solutions and their commercial exploitation: In an industry that is characterized by very short innovation cycles, open source projects have proven to be important incubators for new product lines and branch-defining infrastructures. They do not compete against classical forms of production but instead complement and expand these.
作为创新孵化器的开源项目:从小众现象到软件产业的组成部分
在过去的20年里,开源开发已经成为软件行业不可或缺的一部分,也是所有主要IT提供商创新战略的关键组成部分。在此背景下,本文试图对开源社区及其社会经济背景进行系统的概述。我首先重构了开源软件项目的起源,以及它们与成熟的IT公司之间不断变化的关系。接下来是确定当前开源项目的四个理想的典型变体,它们在协调模式和公司参与程度上有很大的不同。此外,我还研究了为什么开源项目主要失去了颠覆性的潜力,而与以前集体发明的案例相反,开源项目在主流解决方案的出现和商业开发之外仍然可行:在一个以非常短的创新周期为特征的行业中,开源项目已被证明是新产品线和分支定义基础设施的重要孵化器。它们并不与传统的生产形式竞争,而是对传统生产形式的补充和扩展。
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