About the Book
A study of Open Source Software (OSS) development, presenting a rigorous treatment of the subject. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the methodological, technological, economic and psycho-social dynamics of OSS. No previous knowledge of OSS is assumed on the part of the reader, and both formal and functional definitions of OSS and the related term, Free Software, are provided. The text is supported by an online resource centre.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
a. Why Study Open Source Software?
i. The Software Crisis
ii. Market Penetration/Industrial Buy-In
iii. Compelling Theoretical Issues
b. How to Use the Book
i. Intended Audiences (Course-based, Research-based, Professional)
ii. Online Supplements (OPEN reSOURCEs, Contacting the Authors)
iii. Structure of the Book
Section One: Background
1. Overview of Open Source Software
2. The History of Open Source and Free Software
3. The Landscape of Open Source Software
4. Deriving an Analytical Framework
5. Characterising Open Source Software
6. The Open Source Software Development Process
7. Open Source Software Development Tools
8. Technological Motivations for Open Source Software
9. Economic Motivations for Open Source Software
10. Psycho-Social Motivations for Open Source Software
11. When (and Why) Open Source Fails
12. Challenges and Opportunities: The Future of Open Source Software
Appendix: Recommendations for Researchers
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Dr. Joseph Feller is a College Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork. Previously, he was an Adjunct Professor at the Ringling School of Art and Design, in Florida. He was awarded the PhD by National University of Ireland, University College Cork.
Dr. Brian Fitzgerald is a Statutory Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork. He was awarded the PhD by the University of London and has published papers on systems development methodologies in a number of international academic journals, including IEEE Software, Information & Management, Journal of Information Technology, and The Information Systems Journal, and has presented systems development research at over 20 international conferences
Review :
"Information Research" Eric S. Raymond's book, "The cathedral and the bazaar", and Raymond writes the Foreword to this book. One of the authors, Fitzgerald, - a paper that, incidentally, has attracted almost 2,000 'hits' since last July. There is, as a result, a certain degree of familiarity with everything about this book - both subject and authorship! Raymond, in the Foreword, comments that this is the first attempt to pull together the various strands in the development of open source software that the pioneers of this approach have not had time, or perhaps the inclination, to put together themselves. This, indeed, appears to be the case. The authors have clear objectives: they note, in the introduction that they wished to produce a book that would be useful to both academic and professional readers: On the academic side, we have endeavoured to provide... a thorough sythesis and analysis of the OSS research that has appeared to date... On the professional side, we wanted to disseminate the significant volume of rigorous academic reearch into OSS development practices back into the development community. The authors define Open Source Software by reference to the (OSD), produced and maintained by the Open Source Initiative. That definition has nine elements to it, which describe the conditions a%20software licence must satisfy, if the software is to be considered 'Open Source'. You could well be reading this review as a%20result of your server software being Apache, which has an OSD licence, and is the most used server software in the world, with (at November 2001) 56.5% of the market. Key among the terms of the licence are; that the vendor must maintain the integrity of the author's source code by providing 'patches' that make changes when the software is 'built' on the user's machine, rather than my modifying it before distribution; that there should be no discrimination against persons or groups of persons; and that the user should be able to modify the source code and share those modifications with the author and with others. The fact that companies like Red Hat, seller of the Linux programming language, Netscape and even IBM are happy to beome involved with OSS suggests that the process must bring benefits. The authors describe the process that gives the benefits, noting that the process is parallel, with many developers simultaneously involved in the process, rather than a single software team in a commercial sofware company, that there is genuine peer review of suggestions and code in the process of creation, that there is increased user involvement, and that the process uses a succession of rapid releases of new versions, ensuring that users always have the latest version available quickly. The also explore also the weaknesses and problems of OSS, and "en route", discuss the organizations involved in the OSS movement and how the development process in managed. They also suggest that the key issues in OSS are not technological, but sociological, in that the process explores a new way of working that may well extend into other fields of endeavour. This book is well written, clear in its exposition, well illustrated with quotations from people in the OSS 'movement' and from other industry leaders and will serve as a useful text on this mode of software development. The first author, Feller, maintains a Web site on open source software, which provides resources and links to supplement this text. Professor Tom Wilson Editor-in-Chief
