[Air-l] 7 New Papers on opensource.mit.edu|freesoftware.mit.edu

Tue Aug 30 20:52:22 PDT 2005

Hi All,

Please find below new papers on our website.

Tx

Karim

Paper 1
Author:
Andres Guadamuz-Gonzalez

Title:
Viral Contracts or Unenforceable Documents? Contractual Validity of
Copyleft Licenses
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/guadamuz.pdf

Abstract:
This paper asks the question of whether copyleft free software licences
constitute valid legal contracts, in particular with regards to the fact
that it may create obligations through a distribution chain. There is
increasing interest about the non-proprietary licence model expressed in
popular documents such as the General Public Licence (GPL), but not
enough work has been done in asking perhaps the most important question
of all: are these contracts enforceable? Is there really a viral
transmission of obligations? To do this the GPL licence will be analysed
to try to determine whether or not the terms included are contractually
valid.

Paper 2
Author
Luthiger Stoll, Benno

Title:
Fun and Software Development
https://www.foss.ethz.ch/people/lbenno/BLuthiger_Fun_SoftwareDevel_OSS2005.pdf

Abstract
This study gathered 1330 answers about fun and software development from
open source developers as well as 114 answers from programmers working
in commercial software projects. The analysis of these data proves that
fun plays an important role when software developers decide to get
engaged in an open source project. Moreover, the comparison of the
answers gives evidence for the hypothesis that programming in an open
source project is significantly more fun compared to the same activity
under commercial conditions. The reasons for this fact are that open
source projects are able to attract software developers with a credible
project vision and t

Paper 3
Authors
Stefano Comino, Fabio M. Manenti, Marialaura Parisi

Title:
 From Planning to Mature: on the Determinants of Open Source Take Off
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/Comino_Manenti_Parisi.pdf

ABSTRACT
In this paper we use data from SourceForge.net, the largest open source
projects repository, to estimate the main determinants of the progress
in the development of a stable and mature code of a software. We find
that the less restrictive the licensing terms the larger the likelihood
of reaching an advanced development status and that this effect is even
stronger for newer projects. We also find that projects geared towards
system administrators appear to be the more successful ones. The
determinants of projects' development stage change with the age of the
project in many dimensions, i.e. licensing terms, software audience and
contents, thus supporting the common perception of opens source as a
very dynamic phenomenon. The data seem to suggest that open source is
evolving towards more commercial applications.

Paper 4
Author
Chance, Tom

Title:
The Hacker Ethic and Meaningful Work
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/chance.pdf

Abstract
This paper begins with the following proposition: given that we spend a
large proportion of our time working, a just society will provide or
encourage meaningful work. Hackers have created and broadened spaces
where working life can unfold freely, so a proper analysis of the Hacker
Ethic ought to be of concern both to philosophers interested in
meaningful work, and to academics researching hackers and the free
software community. I proceed by first developing an understanding of
the Hacker Ethic that highlights a central concern of my essay, that of
orientations that I characterise as self-indulgent and social placing
conflicting obligations upon individuals. Using Marx's conception of
alienated as a basis, I go on to show how the Hacker Ethic can to an
extent overcome these conflicts by developing a more rounded
understanding of the ethic. Finally I raise some concerns for the
underdeveloped field of the philosophy of hacking and free software that
are particularly pertinent to the paper.

Paper 5
Author
Krzysztof Klincewicz

Title:
Innovativeness of open source software projects
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/klincewicz.pdf

Abstract:
The paper addresses an ongoing debate about the innovativeness of open
source projects and  critically evaluates the innovative potential of
500 most active projects registered by SourceForge.net. The analysis is
based on a proposed framework, distinguishing between radical
inventions, technology / platform modifications, and marketing
innovations. Research findings include relatively low levels of
technical newness in the studies sample, alongside high interest of
developers and users in the innovative projects. The article discusses
the underlying mechanisms, restricting innovativeness of
community-driven open source efforts, and postulates the establishment
of an institution of “idea brokers”, playing roles
corresponding to venture capitalists in the commercial software domain.

Paper 6

Author:
Yuwei Lin

Title:
A Techno-Feminist Perspective on the Free/Libre Open Source Software
Development
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lin5.pdf

Compressed abstract:
This paper tries to analyse the FLOSS development from a
"techno-feminist" perspective (Wajcman 2004). Staying away from a
reductionism that simplifies the gender issue in the FLOSS community to
the level of a fight between men and women, the issues I attempt to
address include not only the inequality that women face in computing,
but also other inequalities that other users face mainly emerging from
the power relationships between expert and lay (namely, developer and
user) in software design. Instead of splitting women and men in the
FLOSS development, this analysis helps motivate both men and women to
work together, reduce the gender gap, and improve the disadvantaged
statuses of women and a wider users community in the FLOSS development.

-- 
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group
Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224
http://spoudaiospaizen.net
http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu
My *new* book: http://tinyurl.com/cjxj6