Open
Source Software as Lead User’s Make or Buy Decision:
A Study of Open and Closed Source Quality
Jennifer Kuan (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research)
FULL TEXT
A Study of Open and Closed Source Quality
Jennifer Kuan (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research)
FULL TEXT
--Summary
by Sonali Shah
Introduction
Open-source software development seems very different from commercial product development. Academics and programmers alike are interested in open-source software: in the motivations of open-source developers, the mechanisms by which open-source communities operate, the quality and range of products that might be developed through such collaborative processes, and the influence of open-source development on the commercial software industry.
Kuan’s paper begins to assemble the pieces of the puzzle by focusing on a single explanation for the open-source phenomenon: developers write software for their own use. Kuan uses this model to predict both promising markets for open-source products and the potential quality of the software; she finds important empirical evidence to support some of her predictions.
Model
Although previous research has identified various motivations for open-source participation, Kuan argues that open-source is best viewed as a case of users engaging in product development. She believes that this explanation allows us to better understand industry-level aspects of the open-source phenomenon. Frequent and often crucial product innovations made by users have been documented in many industries, but they are especially prominent in open-source software (see von Hippel 1988 or von Hippel 2002 for more information on user innovation and lead users).
Because open-source developers write to satisfy their own needs, Kuan argues, their products tend to exhibit a number of common features. First, open-source software will arise in technically-sophisticated niches, because open source developers are often professional software developers. Second, open-source software will not emerge in areas that do not interest open-source developers, or in areas where existing closed-source software already satisfies user needs. Finally, open-source developers will produce high-quality products, because they are also users; they want to create and use a state-of-the-art program, and they have detailed specifications at their disposal. Therefore, open-source programs will be competitive with their closed-source counterparts.
Results
Kuan tests one aspect of her final prediction—that open-source programs will be of equal or greater quality than similar closed-source programs—by examining bug resolution data from three matched pairs of open- and closed-source programs: a pair of web servers (Apache ), a pair of operating systems (Free BSD), and a pair of user interfaces (Gnome). She finds some support for the hypothesis that open-source bug reports are resolved faster than closed-source service requests, after controlling for the priority and severity of each request. The three open-source projects that Kuan chose are relatively large and well-known, and these results may not be representative; after all, open-source projects differ a great deal with respect to their size, age, formal and informal rules, and so forth.
Open-source software development seems very different from commercial product development. Academics and programmers alike are interested in open-source software: in the motivations of open-source developers, the mechanisms by which open-source communities operate, the quality and range of products that might be developed through such collaborative processes, and the influence of open-source development on the commercial software industry.
Kuan’s paper begins to assemble the pieces of the puzzle by focusing on a single explanation for the open-source phenomenon: developers write software for their own use. Kuan uses this model to predict both promising markets for open-source products and the potential quality of the software; she finds important empirical evidence to support some of her predictions.
Model
Although previous research has identified various motivations for open-source participation, Kuan argues that open-source is best viewed as a case of users engaging in product development. She believes that this explanation allows us to better understand industry-level aspects of the open-source phenomenon. Frequent and often crucial product innovations made by users have been documented in many industries, but they are especially prominent in open-source software (see von Hippel 1988 or von Hippel 2002 for more information on user innovation and lead users).
Because open-source developers write to satisfy their own needs, Kuan argues, their products tend to exhibit a number of common features. First, open-source software will arise in technically-sophisticated niches, because open source developers are often professional software developers. Second, open-source software will not emerge in areas that do not interest open-source developers, or in areas where existing closed-source software already satisfies user needs. Finally, open-source developers will produce high-quality products, because they are also users; they want to create and use a state-of-the-art program, and they have detailed specifications at their disposal. Therefore, open-source programs will be competitive with their closed-source counterparts.
Results
Kuan tests one aspect of her final prediction—that open-source programs will be of equal or greater quality than similar closed-source programs—by examining bug resolution data from three matched pairs of open- and closed-source programs: a pair of web servers (Apache ), a pair of operating systems (Free BSD), and a pair of user interfaces (Gnome). She finds some support for the hypothesis that open-source bug reports are resolved faster than closed-source service requests, after controlling for the priority and severity of each request. The three open-source projects that Kuan chose are relatively large and well-known, and these results may not be representative; after all, open-source projects differ a great deal with respect to their size, age, formal and informal rules, and so forth.
Still,
the results do show that open-source projects rival commercial software along
at least one important axis. This is already an important finding by itself,
and it supports Kuan’s model of open source development, as well.
References
von Hippel, E. (1988). The Sources of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.
References
von Hippel, E. (1988). The Sources of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Von Hippel, E. (2002). Open Source Software Projects as User Innovation Networks. MIT Working Paper, http://opensource.mit.edu/
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