Taking on open source software

By Ravi Sen Assistant Professor of Information and Operations Management

As per the open source definition, open source software allows users to have access to the source code of the software, the freedom to use the software as they seem fit, improve it, fix its bugs, augment its functionality. The concept also means users can redistribute the software under an Open Source Initiative approved license, to other users for free or at a charge, who could themselves modify and/or use it according to their own needs.

The success of open source software has spurred interest in understanding various issues related to this form of software. My own research in this area focuses on the impact of open source software on the industrial organization of software markets, and the determinants of those projects' success.

In a study forthcoming in Journal of Management Information Systems, I investigate the competition between open source and proprietary software. One of the interesting findings of this study is that vendors of closed-source commercial software are better off in the presence of competition from open source software when the software in questions has weak network effects. The study concludes with suggestions for the managers of software organizations on competing effectively with open source software.

In another study, I investigate the impact of open source software characteristics on the success of those software projects. A key finding in this study is that highly restrictive licenses have an adverse impact on developer interest in an open-source project. This is an interesting result in light of the fact that most open source software is released under highly restrictive licenses. This paper is currently under review at MISQ.

Finally, given the significant role played by licenses in the success or failure of open source, we investigate the impact of developers' motivational factors, their attitude towards social obligation, and their demographic characteristics on their choice of open-source license. This study is still in progress and we expect to complete it by the end of fall 2007.

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