Free/Open Source Software Development

Citation

Chawner, B. (2005), "Free/Open Source Software Development", Online Information Review, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 325-326. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520510607650

Koch describes this collection of 13 contributed papers as “an overview of current research” into the practices and structures used by collaborative virtual teams to develop free/open source software (F/OSS). The 76 contributors come from 16 countries, indicating the high level of international interest in this area. The papers are arranged under six broad themes:

1. 1.

   F/OSS Development – “Intensive Analysis” (three papers);

2. 2.

   F/OSS Development and Software Engineering Practices – “Extensive Analysis” (two papers);

3. 3.

   F/OSS Projects as Social Constructs (two papers);

4. 4.

   Simulating F/OSS Development – “Dynamic Swarms” (two papers);

5. 5.

   F/OSS Development Interacting with Commercial and Public Organizations (two papers); and

6. 6.

   Implications of the F/OSS Development Model – “The Broad Picture” (two papers).

Each paper looks at F/OSS development from a different perspective, and the topics discussed include:

• •

  maintaining a balance between control and anarchy (Holck and Jørgensen);

• •

  how F/OSS systems and communities evolve (Ye et al.);

• •

  the role of social relationships between developers in coordinating effort (Bassett); and

• •

  the way F/OSS developers resolve conflict using computer mediated communication tools (Elliott and Scacchi).

Most of the papers use a case study approach, selecting a small number of projects for in‐depth analysis. Only two, Hahsler's “A quantitative study of the adoption of design patterns by open source software developers” and Mady, Freeh and Tynan's “Modeling the free/open source software community: a quantitative investigation” are based on a broad range of projects. A majority of the papers are descriptive, intended to identify “good practice”, and none carries out formal hypothesis testing. Several involve simulations or modelling. The papers are clearly written in a formal academic style.

The main issue I have with the book is that it lacks a clear focus, and its structure appears contrived. It is not always clear why a paper has been placed where it is. For example, Coleman and Hill's “The social production of ethics in Debian and free software communities”, included in the final section, would fit equally well under Section 3: “F/OSS Projects as Social Constructs”. Neither the cover nor the title page indicates that Koch's role is editor, not author, indicating unexpectedly sloppy production. In addition, the date is given as c2005, even though the book has been available since mid‐2004. Nonetheless, research into the ways in which F/OSS communities develop software is still at an early stage, and Free/Open Source Software Development is a useful contribution to the research literature on the topic. It will be most effective when used to gain a snapshot of current approaches to studying F/OSS development processes and structures. People new to F/OSS concepts will find a better introduction to the topic in Steven Weber's The Success of Open Source (Weber, 2004). Koch is recommended for software engineering collections in academic libraries.